Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.
It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
View MoreAlthough I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
View MoreThis is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
View More...which is to say, a better script. "Safelight" is by no means a terrible film, but despite honest efforts from a talented ensemble headed up by Evan "American Horror Story" Peters and Juno "Killer Joe" Temple, the story fails to truly engage. The characters are a little too stock, their situations a little too bland and cliché to be memorable. Sadly, we've pretty much seen this all before. Impaired youth befriends broken flower, who inspires his special talent while inspiring herself to break her own bondage. The end. Ms. Temple makes the best of her mistaken choice of scripts, and it's always fun to see solid actors like Jason "Monkey Shines" Beghe and Christine "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains" Lahti get work on the big screen, but it's just not enough. I suppose "Safelight" is a reasonably competent calling card for auteur Tony Aloupis, but he still needs to step up his game. I followed this one up with another under-the-radar indie of a very similar nature, "Spring," which I would have to rate as at least marginally better than this one; neither one is essential viewing by any means, but if you can catch them for free, you'll do okay.
View MoreSome movies are so bad, I feel embarrassed even watching them alone. Safelight is one of those movies.Most of the acting was horrible, (although the two leads were usually adequate) the cookie-cutter characters were shallow and unlikely and the script was absolutely AWUL. The story was boring; It was hard to care what happened or who it happened to. The scenes of family members fighting were cringingly melodramatic. The scene with the mom cackling with her girlfriends at the bar made me want to stick my face under a lawnmower. What gang of idiots WROTE this?! I have never posted a review before but I feel a personal responsibility to warn you of this train wreck. Unless you have a morbid appreciation for terrible movies, AVOID. This movie is unbelievably, painfully, dangerously, SO embarrassingly bad.
View MoreThis was a lovely and complicated story about 2 young people who live on the fringe of society only to find the center of it in each other. This is one of my favorite movies to date. It doesn't attempt to put lipstick on the pig in the room. She's a whore and he's a gimp but the 2 of them together is just beautiful. It doesn't have special effects, nudity, kick ass music or gory violence. This movie works because it's honest. Cinderella of the streets meets her prince in some poor run down town.The country music was decent and it's perfect for this movie. A picture about 2nd chances and humanity.
View MoreAnd no light! Nowhere in the movie do you see a lighthouse at night with it's light on. The lighthouse light is a warning, a guide, for the seafarer to keep the ship safe. So what's with the name? The movie should have been titled "Lighthouse" because that's where Charles & Viki felt safe during the day. At night it was back to being the solo truck stop hooker for her and store stock boy for him and dealing with the local thugs and her crazy pimp.Why did Juno Temple do this part? Why did she appear in this flick? She is Juno Temple and this role is beneath her talents and she looked like she knew it. Her role is lifeless as Viki, Evan Peters is lifeless as Charles, and Skid (the pimp character) is more a demon possessed clown, than a mean tough guy.And to top it off, suddenly the story ends. I didn't get it.
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