I just finished Safety Not Guaranteed and I personally thought the movie was very well done. I felt like it really captured the speculation and doubt about time travel. What what I am asking is what you thought about the ending eg. Was it satisfying/did you feel it was complete enough/theories about what happens next.
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I got to watch this film at Sundance two years ago. Afterwards the director, writer, and the leads answered some questions on stage. They actually told us that the ending had been rewritten several times because they couldn't decide if the machine should work or not. Maybe it was just the atmosphere of Sundance, but when the machine did work, the whole crowd started cheering. They so desperately wanted Duplass's character to succeed that it was a huge relief. The movie got a long standing ovation afterwards.
Personally, at the time, I loved it. And upon second viewing you can see parts in the story that seem to be affected by his successful time travel. Lies that seemed to be told by Duplass could have just been his true experience of a universe subsequently changed. But, the ending immediately had less worth and now the movie to me registers as less valuable. That first viewing though was quite fun.
holy tits. He thought his "girlfriend" had died but he had forgotten that he had gone back and saved her already. Which is why kristen bell said he ran his car into her house. Thanks for bringing that up.
I don't understand what you're saying. What do you mean "that's why she said he ran his car into her house"?
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Honestly, it just felt like they were being ambiguous for the sake of being ambiguous. The film seemed to have an overarching theme of regret and attempt to regress to the past, which fits quite overtly with time travel. But it didn't really have anything to say about these themes, it just addressed them in a couple meandering little story arcs, then ended with a spectacle. I guess the director decided that leaving the results of the time travel ambiguous would keep the film relatively down to earth and "artistic", and I guess it did so in a way, but there was no deeper meaning to it.
The way I see it is Jeff is idolizing his past, but ends up traveling forward in time to see this girl, otherwise known as getting older. But getting older is not growing up, and he self-destructs because he's still got his head in the future and won't enjoy the present
Soooo, he's full of regret and conflict and juice and runs over to Arnau and tells him to... what? Live in the present. Be here now. He should take his own advice, in his own way.
So those two seem like they're dealing with time as a "theme". Then you have Darius and Kenneth, but that's like...actual time travel shit. I liked it and I love the person who pointed out the thing with the Star Wars Figures and the money for his co-worker, but those are really all the little sci-fi touches and easter eggs.
Because how many of us are going to actually time travel? And how many of us are going to go through something a little closer to Jeff and Arnau? I like that part of the movie more than the actual main plot. It has something to say about the way we live, not just about... the movie mechanics of time travel
I think that what they were actually doing was adressing the pessimistic expectations of modern audiences.
I love ambiguous or bad endings, they just seem more real and immediate and meaningful to me. But at the same time the spurning of the typical happy endind has become so prevalent in indie films that I see this movie as a pushback against all of that.
Sometimes it's nice for things to just be nice. It reminds me of another movie, The Baxter. I watched it and at the end was amazed at how nice it all was. No one was hurt, everyone ended up more or less fulfilled. Comedy is so often mean spirited that watching a well written comedy where none of the jokes are really at the expense of the characters was almost disconcerting. This movie moves in that same world. Aubrey Plaza is kind of a stand in for the audience, we expect bad things to happen, we know it's not cool to be enthusiastic and that to extend yourself to another in the real world often results in being smacked down or used. But she rejects cool and profits by it.
I felt like this movie was all about childish hope and how much joy there is to be had in embracing it, despite how grown up we all spend our time pretending to be. My first instinct was the same as many of yours, I was expecting, even hoping for an ambiguous ending. When it didn't happen, when the characters were shown to be reliable narrators after all it I couldn't help but grin. I think the movie is more memorable because it preserved the dignity of characters who in the real world wouldn't be afforded it.
As the ending approached, I was expecting them to end the film right before we saw if the machine actually worked or not, leaving the ending ambiguous. I kind of have a feeling they were actually considering this ending, and instead decided, "fuck it, let's go for it". I can definitely see how it could be polarizing, but I loved it. I wasn't expecting the machine to actually work, and it did, and then Jake Johnson's character raised his fist in the air Breakfast Club style, and it was just ridiculous and joyous. For me the ending was quite satisfying.
The ending was complete enough for me as well, because there seemed to just be a tone of, everything is going to be alright. Maybe they'll go back and successfully do whatever they wanted to do in the past. Maybe they'll decide they don't need to make changes because they're looking at life differently now. Whatever. They'll be fine. I'm perfectly content not knowing those details.
This is how I saw it. The whole film, especially Jake Johnson's character arc, seems to have a theme of "you can never go home again", I.e. you can meet the same people and do the same things but you can't revisit your past. Instead he sort of painfully learns that these experiences can be life-changing, as meeting with his old girlfriend is cathartic for him but in the ends what it does is offer him perspective on his own life at this point in time.
Darius and Kenneth at the end seem to have already gained that perspective through their budding relationship, so the time machine working is less about going back to remove one's own regrets and more about the both of them embarking on a journey together beyond the conception, reach or influence of anyone else.
I think this is the most "right" answer here. Darius and Kenneth have moved past their regrets and now want to start something new on their own.
An interesting part is Jeff takes note and cheers for the two of them. He's able to recognize two people moving forward (like when he knew Darius liked Kenneth early on) and also inspire people to move forward (Arnau) but he can't do that for himself.
Let's look at it from the other side - If the machine didn't work at all. Mark Duplass would just looks like a crazy dumb ass and Aubrey Plaza will never want to hear his zither playing again!
The problem with the machine not working is that it would mean Duplass was mentally ill and the movie would retroactively take a much darker tone. The whole movie would be radically different.
The ending... well. I suppose you could see it as a validation of Aubrey Plaza's budding optimism, and as showing that their relationship will continue. At the time, the movie was very fun and moved quickly, and the ending served as a button to send us off into the world. But it felt like a bit of a cop-out: they hit the point where they had to own up to the time machine working or not, they chose for it to work, and ended the film. It just felt like an opportunity to end the film without getting into time travel mechanics rather than find a natural ending to the film that did the rest of it justice.
So no, not satisfying at anything but the surface level. I still enjoyed the film, however.
But then it's fun to think about all the stuff in the movie that was impacted by the time travel: did he really stop the car accident by driving his car through her wall? Did he make all that money for his coworker's sick wife by selling his action figurines? I don't think the movie "ended" on the final scene. I think it ended when you realize what had happened the second time you see the movie.
Wow, I just put that together. Now I have to watch it again. Thanks!
I so wish they would have ended it in some kind of Inception way or something, like her taking his hand and getting on the boat and then it cutting out, or the other people making it late to the launch site and there being nobody there, so that you really couldn't know if it worked or not
That way all the ambiguities would have worked in the film's favor, and been one of those Rorschach tests. Was this guy mentally ill or genius? Are you a cynic or a dreamer?
IMO the ending to Inception works because upon multiple reviewing you realize that whether or not the top falls the outcome of the narrative is the same. I don't appreciate scripts where the director doesn't know what happens or hadn't thought it out fully (I would argue Looper has this problem).
I think if SNG were to have this ambiguous ending there'd need to be a lot more contextual clues peppered throughout the movie...and that'd sort of just turn it into Inception with time travel instead of dream sharing.
Huh. Didn't even think about that, really. I might have to see it a second time - I thought it was a smart script overall, which is why I was a little let down when the ending to the film wasn't as smart as the rest of the film. Maybe I should give it a rewatch to see it that plays out with the rest of the movie, though.
I don't understand the implication; is it supposed to be completely ambiguous where the money came from? And your suggestion is that he left money for himself in a hiding place or something? If he's used the time machine before, why is he still building it? And if he found money from himself, why would the news about his girlfriend being alive be any more surprising? Just watched the movie and don't quite get what was even meant to be implied.
Maybe that piece he stole has to be replaced every time he uses it? Remember they said he'd been arrested before
This is awesome. It makes a whole lot of sense. I think a second viewing would help me appreciate the movie even more.
I completely disagree. I think the film was a lighthearted romance, not a science fiction film at its core. The sci-fi elements were handled deftly, but with great understatement. All we need to get from the ending is that she ultimately believed in him and was validated in her belief.
At first I was really disappointed that it went down the path of actually just showing the time travel working. I feel like the whole movie the whole idea of going back was more of a comment on regretting mistakes you've made or things you feel like you could've changed (for Kenneth, Darius and Jeff really) rather than it actually being a film about time travel. Looking back though I'm not sure how I would have changed it, maybe leaving it unanswered would've been better.
I thought the romance was very forced, and the time travel aspects were too ambiguous to be interesting. There are so many time-travel stories out there that this one didn't particularly stand out. That said, I am obsessed with Aubrey Plaza, and I liked all the trappings around the main plot, but I thought the film itself was a bit shallow.
I think I shed a few tears when the machine began to work. The character and story development throughout the movie was so tastefully done.
We see Kenneth (Mark Duplass) as an underdog. He works at a grocery store, lives in a run-down house, and drives a rusty old Datsun. We assume he's delusional and suffers from mental illness, and as we travel further down the rabbit hole, we are constantly forced to question his competence.
At the surface, it's about documenting a crazy guy who thinks he can travel through time. At its core, it's about four people trying to escape a drab existence.
Did I expect that he had a time machine? No. I honestly thought Kenneth was a vulnerable adult. We were introduced to Kenneth by people who assumed he was crazy, so naturally, that's the attitude we adopted.
I really liked the ending. It was unexpected.
I honestly expected it from the start. it shocks me that people think otherwise! maybe its just because im an asshole and dont look into characters. I look more into movies. and if the movie had a normal ending with no time machine I dont think it would have had people raving about it like they did.
I would have been raving about it, because it would have been fresh and different. The movie was marketed as a funny, quirky film, so the time travel wasn't out of place. The dark undertones were incredibly out of place, but in a good way, imo. They completely wasted that twist when they just swept them under the rug with TIME MACHINE REVEAL!
Yes, the ending was cut off, but I liked it. I was satisfied with it. For some reason, I didn't want it to go farther because I feel like it would of added too much sci-fi to a movie that was, seemingly, supposed to be more outdoorsy.
I enjoyed it, and thought the ending was OK. I'm fine with the time machine working. I don't need everything explained to me on what happened. The ending fit the movie.
Still, I was a bit disappointed at the way the topic was treated. I remember the ad the movie was based on, and always thought the one with the picture was hilarious. But the movie didn't really follow through on it. Why did they need weapons? Why did he need a companion? Where in time they were going and why was also underwhelming.
I wanted adventure. I know that wasn't the movie, and like I said I liked it for what it was, but IMO it sold short on its premise.
I really wanted to like this movie, but the ending completely ruined it for me.
The movie itself wasn't interesting to me until they started introducing the darker doubts about Duplass. I did not expect it to take such a dark turn with the girlfriend, and thought the script had something to offer.
When the ending validated the time travel stuff, it destroyed any real interest I had in the characters or the story. It's all fluff.
I don't think there's anything "deep" going on underneath the end of this film. And the ending, as much as I gather, is supposed to be taken at face value.
It was an ok movie, but nothing really special. My biggest criticism is the cinematography, the damn thing is shot and looks exact like every other American indie movie for the past 10 years.
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I was full sure the film was going to end with Darius finding a note in the box. I never thought we'd get to see a time-machine, and I think her finding a note would even still leave things open ended--did Kenneth actually go back, or leave the note in as he fled. I think it would have coalesced with the film's inherent shyness toward its sci-fi element.
In fact, I found myself banking on the box tying everything together. Perhaps the fact that it was empty tells us everything we need to know. It's all so open-ended that it's hard to know exactly what ws intended. Must watch it again.
Upon seeing the fillm I was joking with my friends saying, "I bet in the end the time machine works and it will be so whimsical, and we'll all feel like cynics for not believing." And that's exactly what happened. The film felt mediocre and Plaza can't really carry a film. I enjoyed the goth drinking scene but overall nothing surprised me and the movie felt flat.
I feel like there are many ways to answer this question:
Did I feel that the ending was satisfying/complete enough as a film about time travel?
Yes, I totally felt it was a unique take on time travel movies in that we're shown the effects first (if they really were the effects), and then the time machine last so that we're left doubting and making our own interpretations and it's always fun to come to sites like these afterwards to put together all the pieces that you had missed along the way (which is half the fun in these sorts of movies).
2) Did I feel that the ending was satisfying/complete enough as a film with a romantic twist to it?
No, definitely not. As some others have said on here, I hadn't really found their romance convincing. The actors had done a terrific job acting, but to me, their chemistry -- like their safety -- had not been guaranteed.
And honestly, for someone as cynical and suspicious as Kenneth was, he sure fell for Darius fast even though he was supposed to be going back for another girl. She actually hadn't even given him much to go on; yes, she had given him one very personal story from her life, but we were supposed to believe that after just one story and a few "action" sequences, suddenly, he was going to give up the girl he had spent his whole adult life missing (and for whom he had even built a time machine for) for a girl he had just met through a personals ad?!? And wasn't he supposed to have done a background check on her? There had been nothing suspicious in it such as that she was working for the media (yes, only as an intern, but still media nonetheless)? In fact, another "twist" to the time travel could have been that as part of his background check on her, he could have traveled back in time to investigate her and then confronted her with this information in the new timeline. Despite this being a movie involving science fiction, it had been their relationship that I had found to be more fiction than reality.
3) Did I feel that the ending was satisfying/complete enough as a film commenting on time as it relates to letting go of the past and living in the present?
For this, I would give the movie a B+.
I would say that for Darius and Kenneth, yes, they definitely grew to let go of their past and we could see their character growth.
As for Jeff and Arnau, it was a little bit too shallow and would have required more background and screen time for it to be more convincing for me. While it's a given that they're secondary characters, I feel that if the film had really wanted to drive the point home, it could have:
A) Cut out Arnau's character -- who was clearly just a stereotypical token representation of the Asian nerd and there for cheap comic relief anyway, and,
B) Just focus on Jeff.
When asking Liz to move with him to Seattle, he had said it was the clearest he'd been in a long time, but instead of giving her a chance to accept a proposition even he had prefaced with, "was crazy," he completely overreacted and acted out the same way he usually does (we assume, based on his characterization). Even before he had acted out, Liz had predicted that he would forget about her the second he had left town, but she was wrong -- he had forgotten about her the second she had said no to him by acting immaturely and throwing a tantrum.
And then, instead of going off to learn something and have an epiphany (maybe by witnessing how the main characters, people he believed to be loonies with weird mojo, developed a relationship built on trust and respect), he went out and dealt with the issue as he usually had in the past -- by partying, a situation exacerbated by trying to force a life philosophy he knew to be bad (based on his conversations with Liz) on another poor, unsuspecting intern.
Don't get me wrong -- I understand that this movie was meant to be a quirky little science fiction romantic comedy (in which it succeeded) and so it wasn't really here to deal with big and deep issues, but if I were being asked about it in this respect, above is how I would respond.