The Safety of Objects (2003)

The Safety Of Objects tries so hard to get it's point across,it started to become annoying after a bit. Half of the characters in this film,are so selfish,I couldn't relate to any of them,in fact the only one,was Glenn Close's,and even she was somewhat selfish. All of the characters in this movie,either have something tragic happened to them,or they are having,relationship problems,and they all connect to each other at one point,or another. I'll go over the stories.Glenn Close-Esther. Loses her son to a coma,in a ghastly accident. Grief stricken over the loss, she's not herself,and tries to please her daughter as much as possible. At times I felt for her,she was a good mom,and god knows,plenty of mothers would act that way,and rightfully so. It's just,she came across,as a bit cold,during her conversations with her son in the coma. She gives the best performance in the film,by far though,she is often a revelation.Dermot Mulroney-Jim. Thinks his wife may be cheating on him,while stressing out,over not getting the promotion,he had yearned for. Dermot is not a favorite of mine, i'll get that out in the open, right now. Dermot though, gives a solid show here. We feel for him,as the family man.Patricia Clarkson-Annette. Has a pair of troubled daughters. One is mentally troubled,while the other,is a 12 year old smoker,who looks very much like a young boy,while having an ex husband,who is rarely around. It's also revealed,she's had a romance with Paul, the coma victim. Patricia is an excellent actress,and here is no different. I would rank her 3rd,as the most sympathetic. She tried hard as the mother,and I often felt for her,but the film didn't give me much reason, to care for her.Joshua Jackson-Paul is the victim of an unfortunate car accident,who ends up in a bad coma. His performance is nothing to brag about, to be honest. He spends a good portion of the film,in a coma,he's only shown,in flashback scenes.Timothy Olyphant-Randy. Is the friend of Paul,who lost somebody,in the tragic accident,who can't seem to get over it. Timothy is a very underrated actor, at times. Here he puts on a very good show. His scenes with Kristen ,are very well done.Jessica Campbell-Julie. Is the sexually frustrated daughter,who has relationship troubles, with her mom. She gave a pretty good performance,but I found her character to be very unsympathetic,until the end.Mary Kay Place-Helen. Is a health obsessed woman,with deep problems. Her performance,could've been over the top, thankfully she did pretty well, for the most part.Kristen Stewart-Sam. Is 12 year old smoker,who looks like a boy. At 12 years old, Kristen shows a remarkable amount of poise, and talent. We feel for her in the situation.Alex House-Jake. Is obsessed with a doll. He managed to do quite well for his age, I was pleasantly surprised.Bottom Line. Safety Of Objects, is a curious misfire. It's certainly interesting at points, but it's much too depressing, and soap Operaish too work fully. It has too many unsympathetic characters,to be fully effective. Worth a look, but don't get yourself hyped up over it.6/10

Robert Klein, Glen Close, Mary Kay Place, Patricia Clarkson, Dermot Mulroney, Jessica Campbell, Joshua Jackson, Moira Kelly, Tim Olyphant ...talent all over the place, and a story very worthy of their efforts. No two films, writers, or directors are the same, of course, but I think it's fair to mention Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm", the work of Atom Egoyan ("Exotica", "The Sweet Hereafter"), or thematically similar films like "One Hour Photo", "Safe", "White Oleander", "Far From Heaven", and "Crash" as having a strong relationship to "The Safety of Objects". ALIENATED, DETACHED, REMOVED, UNCOMMUNICATIVE, LOST SOULS desperate for attention, warmth, love, understanding. This is NOT to say "Safety..." is merely a cog in a gathering movement of films, because it has it's own agenda, and conclusions. Watch this one with a clear head...or the complex, layered, forward/backward, puzzle pieces of this story will overwhelm you with details that ARE important. I will see it again and again.

I think I really wanted to like this film. Unfortunately, there were many elements that I found very cumbersome to the overall story/plot, or lack thereof.The cast was really good, Dermot Mulroney, Glenn Close, Joshua Jackson. The idea of studying individual lives that share connecting threads is one that I usually find enticing. There were some deep seated demons within the group of characters. Among these demons, there seemed to be no consequences for their actions. I think the movie is incorrectly titled. There were no tangible objects within the film. At one point, you see Mulroney clinging to a stupid baseball mitt that he steals, what the heck was that all about? There there is his son that has a sexual relationship with a Barbie doll knock off. Hello, strange waters I choose not to swim in there.Then there is Close attempting to win an automobile for her daughter, who makes it 71 hours into the competition, then suddenly gives up the fight because it's an automobile accident that caused her son to be in this paralyzed coma he's in through the whole movie. Incidentally, I'm not sure why the boy wasn't in the hospital here? A very weak plot is stating the fact kindly.In the end, this whole mess of interwoven threads not unlike the silly friendship bracelet woven by a little girl who you think is a boy through most of the movie, is never completely tied off. The movie ends with this strange idea that it's okay to steal, murder, masturbate, have relationships with dolls, invite another young child to touch your private parts, cheat on your spouses, drink and drive, be irresponsible and promiscuous, and then wonder why you are depressed over God having a "wicked sense of humor" here?I'm sorry that it kept me up in the wee hours of the night and I was crippled by my inability to look away from a car crash.....pun intended.

The first time I saw this movie, I didn't like it. I decided to give it a second watch because it was such a good cast, and it left a creepy, haunting feeling with me, I thought: what was that? The movie is difficult to watch, its not entertaining and I can't say that it's very good. The philosophical underpinning is revealed titularly, and there is nothing very interesting about it, its like, yeah we know... I gave the movie 7 out of 10 only because Glenn Close is ridiculously good. Its really one of the most interesting female performances of late. The barbie doll thing was a bit disturbing, but the director deserves a break for taking chances that are not commercial. Worth looking at. Good Cast. Is the movie supposed to be weird, or did someone make a mistake? Glenn's great.