Review of A Safe Place (1971) by Robert A — 14 Apr 2013

After watching this once and then watching it with commentary I now have a deep seeded connection with this movie. I could write a long essay about it. It premiered at the same time as The Last Picture Show, even in the same theater.

The Last Picture Show is also one of my favorites of the BBS movies. The Last Picture Show was a huge success while A Safe Place was a huge failure. The movie is not a linear storyline that can be followed like a normal movie.

It's something to be followed on an emotional level. It is a perfect example of a movie that is probably taking place inside of someone's head. All of the scenes are blended together and there is a dreamlike surreality to everything.

I was reminded of A Catcher in the Rye when I watched it the first time, only hints of the book though. Then I watch it with commentary and find out that Henry Jaglom said that book, and Salinger, were a big influence on him.

That blew my mind. I didn't really pick up on the connections to the novel, there was just the slightness that reminded me of it and the movie also had other scenes that reminded me of a friend who told me to read the book so I wasn't even thinking the book had anything to do with the movie, just coincidence, but it was no coincidence.

I was going on an inside journey of my own while watching this movie twice tonight. There are a few dialogue scenes that are beautiful and then it turns out they weren't written they were real stories told from the people who experienced them.

That pureness of a scene is something that is hard to fake. At first I was turned off by the blending of scenes but after finding out the writer/director's intentions it seemed perfectly understandable.

I guess I'm one of the few that has some kind of deep seeded connection with this movie and I like it even more because I'm in a minority. The movie reminded me of other movies I have seen, Annie Hall, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind to name a couple.

The elements of relationships and love and memories that is tossed around really put this movie in the realm of those movies. This will be one movie I will look back on and I'd say it would be one of the movies that made me want to be a film maker.

I will be a film maker, I have decided. This is just one of the movies I needed to watch on my journey to becoming one.