EIFL: Ericsson's Independent Film List -- Compiled By Ericsson

Welcome to the neighborhood, where the neighbors are nice, keep their affairs secret, have usual desires, and live in familiar life. Esther Gold's life is consumed by caring her comatose son Paul all day and night. Jim Train feels that his family no longer needs him and is sent into a tailspin when he's passed over for a promotion. Helen Christianson is determined to shake up her mundane life while trying new products to keep her feeling young. Annette Jennings, in a midst of a messy divorce, struggles financially to care for her two daughters. In a series of overlapping stories four suburban families who deal with different maladies will bring their fates facing with the truth.

Directed by Rose Troche, The Safety Of Objects features great acting performances from the following cast:
1.) Glenn Close (Esther Gold)
2.) Joshua Jackson (Paul Gold)
3.) Jessica Campbell (Julie Gold)
4.) Dermot Mulroney (Jim Train)
5.) Alex House (Jake Train)
6.) Moira Kelly (Susan Train)
7.) Mary Kay Place (Helen Christianson)
8.) Patricia Clarkson (Annette Jennings)
9.) Kristen Stewart (Sam Jennings)
10.) Timothy Olyphant (Randy)

I may not be a fan of independent cinema, but when I watched The Safety Of Objects I find it as an excellent story for the series of overlapping stories about four different families in one big confusion. The comatose state that Paul was in may be silent to me as while Joshua Jackson didn't deliver any lines, he at least did a good acting job. As she's playing the tomboyish, short-haired Sam Jennings who likes to smoke, the young Kristen Stewart was only seven years away from Twilight. I got amused with the voice-overs when Jake has romantic fantasies with his younger sister's doll - and I wish I'd like to have such fantasies while looking at the dolls. (Just kidding...I would never do that!) Since this is a drama, The Safety Of Objects may be slow but it's not at all boring; its plot is moving that it helped me get through my viewing experience. I would like to watch more independent movies like this.

Meet Melinda Sordino, who has mean friends, hates her teachers, and is entering a difficult time in her freshman year of high school. Since a violent encounter during a party a year earlier she hasn't spoken a word about it. Shunned by her classmates, alienated from her parents, and feeling very alone, Melinda retreats into the interior world. But hope arrives when art teacher Mr. Freeman accepts Melinda's silence but pushes her towards art as a mean of self-expression. With this she then discovers her voice, talent, and the regaining of joy in life.

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The 2005-released Speak showed me a good portrayal of living life after a disturbing rape scene as a flashback, as well as a great acting performance from future Twilight star Kristen Stewart. Also included in the performing cast are D.B. Sweeney, Elizabeth Perkins, Steve Zahn, and Michael Angarano, whose Dave Petrakis role is so heroic in character. I haven't read the original award-winning novel from Laurie Halse Anderson, but I would like to see what that adolescent issue is about through text. All I can say about Speak is that it's a great Sundance-selected teen drama. :)