Things will get better but Safety Not Guaranteed

Firstly debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and picked up by Sony, Safety Not Guaranteed is a snappy picture that the Indie film scene can be proud of, with its brilliant framing and oddball characters makes it an indie classic. The indie genre has grown throughout the past decade into a powerhouse of the film industry and just shows how people with the strangest imagination can now become major players in Hollywood with the director, Colin Trevorrow being confirmed as the director for Jurassic World showing how he has come so far. The film is ultimately about loss, which is something we can all relate to. I mean everyone has lost something in their life haven’t they?

Safety Not Guaranteed is directed by Colin Trevorrow and written by Derek Connolly and focuses on Darius, played by Aubrey Plaza, and her journey to be able to get the right story for her internship at the local newspaper, but also trying overcome the death of her mother. Darius accompanied with Jeff (Jake Johnson) and Arnau (Karan Soli) attempt to interview a man who put in a classified advertisement for a companion on his quest to go back in time. So basically the most indie and quirky film that could be thought up. The story follows how Darius is in training with the wannabe time traveller, Kenneth, played by Mark Duplass, and how she is going in too deep with the assignment, the film then creates many tangents within the film, with Darius and Kenneth forming a relationship and Jeff trying to get Arnau ‘laid’. Mixing the two very different genres of action and romance together to create something in which could be enjoyed by the niche indie audiences and the mainstream.

The themes within Safety Not Guaranteed follow the sense of loss which is shown with each of the characters. For example, the loss of life between Darius and Kenneth losing someone close to them but also the loss of confidence suffered by Arnau who is shown to be the stereotypical nerdy intern who just cannot seem to talk to girls but with one pep talk with Jeff turns into a suave and fully confident sex connoisseur. The idea of loss could be seen as a major theme throughout the whole film as almost every character seems to suffer with it in a certain way and the simplistic generalisation that people should not be judged by their looks. To be honest, most people come across as weird within real life but may be some of the best people that you may speak to, and this is shown in this film with Kenneth talking about time travel but shown in a childlike state. Another major theme within the film could be said to be the repairing or overcoming past mistakes with the idea that Kenneth wants to go back in time to stop his girlfriend from dying but is revealed to not actually be dead; but also it could be shown that characters need to understand that moving on is an important part of life, and being young should be celebrated and not to live in regret.  

Where Safety Not Guaranteed champions is its relatable charm to the socially awkward of the world with the idea that they can be shown to be ‘normal’ people (but what is normal?) The idea that the themes may relate to many people in the world just show that the film industry big shots can be just like regular people, like the idea that Tom Cruise can be shown to be socially awkward and shy can give everyone a better sense of confidence. However, I do believe that the film tends to dwell on the idea that it is an indie film and tries too hard to be edgy, like the idea that time travel in real life is a possibility, it just seems to whimsical compared to its more realistic past chapters.

In conclusion, Safety Not Guaranteed could be seen as a triumph in film to the point where we the audience seems to feel a bit better about themselves with the feeling that time travel may actually happen with the film giving the ultimate theme message that everything is not that bad and being socially awkward can be overcome, or something like that anyway, I’m just getting past the idea that Kenneth actually put an advertisement in the newspaper for a companion for time travel.