Review of Safe (1993) by Reece L — 30 Mar 2015

Meticulous, ambiguous, and uncomfortable, "Safe" is a strange meditation on the nature of disease and the space humans occupy in the world. Moore's character, a housewife and feminine ideal, is revealed to be suffering from some sort of disease, and while the trajectory she's given begins as a critique of the vacuous nature of wealth (every aspect of her life is communicated through Haynes' attention to detail, from the uneasiness with which she treats people of color, to the robotic nature of her marriage, to the young son who already has the makings of a bleeding-heart liberal), it ultimately ends up studying the abusive nature of institutionalized religion.

The end result is ripe for critical dissection; there are a lot of ideas hidden in the subtext, and Haynes' direction is inspired (he finds horrific claustrophobia in the emptiness of space, placing Moore off-center in large environments and emphasizing her insignificance to possibly portray her own perception of herself).

Moore's role would prove to be impossible for a lesser actress, and the resulting performance is magnetic and confounding. The sound design is also exquisite; the score revels in strange ambiance and liquid bubbles.

I don't have a grasp on what the whole thing was about (the AIDS epidemic? 20th century paranoia?) but it certainly left me a lot to consider, not to mention considerably creeped out.