Netflix for the Poor Kids: Safety Not Guaranteed (Confirmed EPIC!)
Safety Not Guaranteed is set up as an indie film capturing the human struggle of four people: an emo-ish young woman struggling with the tragic loss of her mother, a brilliant man looking for someone to trust, a shallow journalist facing the time old fear of middle age, and a quiet young man learning how to take risks. The story begins with Jeff Schwensen (Jake Johnson), a prominent journalist at a magazine in Seattle, proposing to investigate a newspaper classified ad that reads:
Jeff chooses Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni), two post undergrad interns, to travel with him to the beach town of Ocean View to find the writer of the classified ad and figure out what he's up to. Is he some crazy man who's finally taken a leap off the deep end? Why does he want to go back in time? Bring your own weapons? To answer all these questions, Darius is given the task of befriending the ad writer, Kenneth Calloway (Mark Duplass).
Darius and Kenneth quickly form a tight bond of friendship after they both admit to their reason for going back in time: saving a loved one from an untimely and tragic death. Kenneth wants to go back to save his high school sweetheart from being killed by a car that comes crashing through her living room. Darius wants to save her mother from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, something Darius blames herself for.
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The training scenes are some of the best scenes in the whole film |
After some prodding from Darius and Arnau, Jeff makes contact with Belinda. He quickly learns that even though they are both growing older, they still have a lot of life to live. He realizes that age can bring on a new kind of beauty, a deeper love and understanding between two people who have experienced the hardships of life and come out the other end the better for it.
Arnau is an awkward graduate student, who's only reason for working at the magazine is to diversify his resume. In a last ditch effort by Jeff to relive his youth, Jeff persuades Arnau to let loose of his anal retentive hold on the future and enjoy being young. Jeff picks up a few young people and the two men waste away a evening just living in the moment.
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"You're not always going to be 21, young man!" |
The characters are what really make this movie so delightful. They are fully realized individuals, all struggling with real life problems and learning what it means to be human. Through training to go back in time, sarcastic banter, and an intimate camping scene we watch as a beautiful friendship blossoms between two very hurting, very human characters. After harsh reality hits, we see two other characters learn what is means to live in the moment and make something of it. We've all been in these kinds of situation which only endears the audience to characters even more.
I believe the movie does a great job of summing its self up: "To go it alone or to go with a partner?... At the end of the day do I need someone, when I'm dying myself and I'm insecure, and my heart's failing me? Do I need someone, when the heat gets hot, who has my back?"
"So do you?..."
Generbeener hopes you find this film as enjoyable as a lovely game of Pazaak accompanied with a fine vintage of blue milk!
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