Synopsis: A magazine employee and two interns head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel.
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Jake M. Johnson, Karon Soni
Release: June 8th
This next film is an independent, light-hearted comedy film that I think will stand out as one of the more interesting indie films to be released this summer.
I don’t have as much to say about this film as I did for other’s so I won’t bother categorizing.
Interestingly, Safety Not Guaranteed is inspired off a real life classified ad that was posted in 1997 in the magazine Backwoods Home so I’ll be intrigued to hear what the person who posted the original ad has to say about this film once is released.
I have a feeling this film is going to be good based on the reviews and accolades it has already received. The film premiered at the Sundance film festival and it received critical acclaim from viewers. It went on to win the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and was soon picked up by a distribution company. So hopefully it’ll be worth watching!
I terms of storyline, Mark Duplass plays Kenneth, a man who puts the ad in the newspaper. Aubrey Plaza (From Parks and Recreations) plays Darius, the magazine intern who ends up becoming close with Kenneth. Through the interactions between Kenneth and Darius, we’ll definitely see a dynamic relationship unfold. I also wonder if Kenneth will actually be capable of time traveling? In real life, if someone had met an individual like Kenneth, they may think he was an odd person…but maybe he’s not odd at all, but actually someone who’s done something interesting with his life. Hmmmm….??
On the other hand, we’ll also see an interesting relationship develop between the magazine reporter, Jeff (Jake M. Johnson) and the other intern Arnau (Koran Soni). It seems like Arnau has been sheltering himself from all the opportunities in life. Jeff notices this and ends up taking Arnau on an adventure with the intent to broaden his experiences. Seems like it’ll serve as an interesting, comical subplot that’ll hopefully tie in with Kenneth and Darius attempt to time travel. It’s definitely not a recycled hollywood narrative so we can all look forward to seeing something fresh.
Here’s a clip from the film which show’s Jeff trying to motivate Arnau to be a real man and “do something stupid”
Aubrey Plaza’s character form Parks and Recreations seems to have some common traits with her character in this film so if you enjoy P and R you’ll probably like this as well. Plus, Mark Duplass is a talented and funny actor (…and successful writer/director). He appears to be a hard-working man in Hollywood that has slipped under the radar so everyone should check this film out to see Duplass’ talent (I’ll provide a link to his IMDB below so people can browse through and see some of the work he has done).
AND OF COURSE…
There is also the important question: “Well, does he actually know how to time travel and will they eventually time travel by the end of the movie?”….. Hmmm, we’ll have to find out…
Mark Duplass’ IMDB Page – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0243233/
Aubrey Plaza’s IMDB Page – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2201555/
zach.rintoul/upcoming.films 