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The safety of objects

Threat advisory: Guarded - General risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

The secret isn't holding on to what you've got. It's letting go of what you've lost.

In a modest suburban neighbourhood, Paul Gold (Joshua Jackson) lies in his bedroom in a coma, nursed by his mother, Esther (Glenn Close). Esther dutifully tends to Paul day and night, and in doing so has distanced herself from her husband Howard (Robert Klein) and teenage daughter Julie (Jessica Campbell). In an attempt to help her mother accept reality, Julie enters Esther in a local radio contest, hoping to win, along with the prize, her mother's notice. Meanwhile, after years of putting his job first, Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney) feels his family; especially his efficient wife Susan (Moira Kelly), no longer needs him. He tries to reconnect with his son Jake (Alex House) but Jake is preoccupied with romantic feelings for his younger sister's 30cm plastic doll.

The Train's neighbour, Helen Christianson (Mary Kay Place) feeling older and less desirable, tries new products to keep her feeling young but succeeds only in alienating her husband who loves her as she is. Helen's good friend Annette Jennings (Patricia Clarkson), in the midst of a messy divorce, struggles to provide for her two children while dealing with a loss far greater than that of her ex-husband's financial security. Randy (Timothy Olyphant), the neighbourhood's favourite handyman, is also dealing with a loss, one he is desperately trying to move past.

When you rely on a new car, the latest exercise equipment and a child's doll to provide comfort and protection from life's hard realities, where do you turn when the safety of objects fail? Over the course of four days, these families will open up and lean on one another, sharing their burdens and joys, and help each other remember that it is the people we know and love - not the objects we own - that provide real hope and security to face whatever life throws at us.

Persons of interest

Glenn Close .... Esther Gold
Dermot Mulroney .... Jim Train
Jessica Campbell .... Julie Gold
Patricia Clarkson .... Annette Jennings
Moira Kelly .... Susan Train
Timothy Olyphant .... Randy
Mary Kay Place .... Helen Christianson
Jessica Campbell .... Julie Gold
Robert Klein .... Howard Gold
Joshua Jackson .... Paul Gold
Alex House .... Jake Train
Kristen Stewart .... Sam Jennings
Charlotte Arnold .... Sally
Rose Troche .... Screenwriter
Rose Troche .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Awards and film festivals:

Brisbane International Film Festival 2002: Official Selection
Deauville Film Festival 2002: International Critics Prize; Ralph Lauren Fragrances Prize for best performance (Patricia Clarkson)
Melbourne International Film Festival 2002: Official Selection
San Sebastián Film Festival 2001: Official Selection
Seattle Women in Cinema Film Festival 2002: Third place prize
Toronto International Film Festival 2001: Official Selection

The safety of objects movie trailers:

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Studios and distributors:

Niche

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Suburban melodrama.

Where The safety of objects succeeds is in its presentation of the mundane. Suburban life is nothing if not mundane. I know. I've been there. (On my way to somewhere else, but I could see it out the windows of the car).

Where The safety of objects fails is in its presentation of the extraordinary. Suburban life is nothing if not not extraordinary. To have so many dramas occurring in so many households at the same time is beyond anybody's ability to willingly suspend their disbelief. These lives, like those of the characters in soap operas, are just too interesting to be real. Suburban life is long periods of inanity interrupted by moments of passing interest. Almost any character in The safety of objects could be made into the focus of a one-star film and that's too much for a film that purports to be about ordinary people.

If you live in the suburbs, this is more of a horror film than a drama. 'Nough said.