The Savages
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Movie Reviews of The Savages
Movie Review: Brilliantly insightful and touching, realistically funny
Summary: 5 Stars
I watched this movie not expecting to like it. I'm not much for dark comedies, and it was clear this was being promoted as such.
I'm so glad I decided to give it a chance. First, the casting was perfect. The supporting cast was fantastic, and Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman were wholly believable as struggling siblings who love, but don't really know each other. Watching them, I felt a richness in their relationship, as though they DID share a somewhat troubled life history, and were now battling the unwanted awkwardness of being together as they both tried to move beyond their past.
Their loyalty to their father in spite of who he was is confused, tense, difficult, tender, and honest; their struggles with his care are universal. Every one of us has our own reaction to difficult times in our lives, and for the Savages, their relationships were almost defined by their ability to be honest about their feelings, and to laugh when they'd reached their breaking points.
I wouldn't call this a comedy...but I wouldn't call it a drama, either. It slips between typical categories and lands somewhere few movies do: real life.
Movie Review: A realistic slice of life told with dark humor
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read the other reviews that tell the story and speak of the actors great portrayals. All true. Great story. Great acting. But what makes The Savages so special is its realism about dementia/alzheimers and how the family copes. Unlike the films The Notebook or Away From Her that sugar coat dealing with dementia and make it appear mellow and rosy, it is not. Writer/director Tamara Jenkins hits the nail on the head. It is messy, literally and figuratively.
As someone who's been a caregiver for a mother-in-law with alzheimers for about 7 yrs and counting, I finally feel supported. It's horrible. Watching the patient become less themselves, start to do bizarre and embarrasing acts, become agressive. Families fighting over how to care for the patient and anguished in the process. Guilt, horror, sadness, loss and this is all while the loved one is still alive. I call patients with dementia/alzheimers the living dead. Brava for showing this disease in all its thorny, unpredictable truth!
Half the population will have dementia/alzheimers by age 85. We need to fight for a cure, before its you or your loved one.
Movie Review: As entertaining as it is bleak...
Summary: 5 Stars
Who would've thought that dysfunction could be so entertaining, as well as enlightening? In the hands of the very adept writer/director Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages" lets out all the stops. These characters are all damaged, in one way or another, and the screenplay allows great latitude to show the humor in everyday human foibles. Indeed, there's loads of unrequited familial love that has never been given the chance to flow naturally. Laura Linney and P.S. Hoffman are excellent, perfectly cast, and the wonderful Philip Bosco is on hand to add considerable angst to the proceedings. DVD extras are few but there's a nice making-of segment that explains a lot, and allows Ms. Jenkins to cite her connection to the story. It's not really a pleasant story, but the ending has a certain degree of redemption, and not the cop-out that might've been. I enjoyed "The Savages" very much; Indie film-making is definitely on the rise.Movie Review: Exquisitely nuanced
Summary: 5 Stars
I put off seeing this for quite a while because I wasn't in the mood for a depressing film about dementia and death. I needn't have -- it's a wonderful film and enjoyable despite the subject matter. The writing and acting are uniformly exquisite; the film is funny without being overtly humorous and moving without being sentimental. The story develops via an episodic, almost poetic structure in which the characters' dysfunctionality and humanity is illustrated not so much through narrative as through beautifully realized individual moments. Many films have a few very subtle and well-realized scenes; this film is so laden with such moments there is scarcely room or necessity for plot development. And though I already admired Phillip Seymour Hoffman, this role certainly made me a confirmed fan.Movie Review: a timely story--I loved it
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm glad I didn't see this film first in theaters, but now, a year later when I can laugh all the more at the accuracy of its story about wounded adult children struggling to deal with their dying father. Great acting, excellent script, compelling story and characters, nicely filmed and edited, entertaining AND it has something to say. Not sweet or bitter, sentimental or tragic, this is the reality that every generation deals with if they live long enough, and I found a lot to make me smile, some sadness, commiseration, and closure--I haven't seen anything to compare.