The Savages
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Movie Reviews of The Savages
Movie Review: An Incredible Work : Death & The Real World
Summary: 4 Stars
Tamara Jenkins is clearly a wondrous talent - "The Savages", which focusses on three family members who share that same last name, is a poignant, sometimes hilarious look at love and relationships between siblings, and most importantly our societys' interaction with aging parents and our responsibility toward them.
Despite being a straight-forward narrative, the film excels at certain vignettes that only add to its overall appeal - the scene where Laura Linney is in the airplane with her father and he needs to use the bathroom is especially realistic - I've actually witnessed something like this on an airplane - and the 'breakdown' scene where Linney goes about the hospital searching for the 'big red pillow' she bought her father is a superb high-point of the film as it defines the character so perfectly.
Both siblings here are people who want to 'be something in life'. To this end, they both consider themselves scholared academics on the quest for grants and scholarships and publishing deals. While Hoffman plays his role as the brother without a hint of irony, Linney's role seems better written as she is more 'flawed' and more 'real', without being a total turnoff. Her choice of love-partner (an unattractive, rather unintelligent married man in his 50s) is enough for us to draw up a suitable impression of her character. She is shown as slightly off-kilter, and not really high on the concept of morality. Linney also brings that special awkwardness that people with low self-esteem have, and by the end of the movie we are treated to the direction her life takes - and its not quite what we expected. That last scene will have you thinking for hours (no spoilers here - but it involves a dog that's undergone hip surgery).
"The Savages" is definitely not for everyone, even for many of you who might like slow, dialog-driven film. Its also not pretentious or pandering to an 'art-house' audience, which is something I appreciated. Its very real, down to earth, and definitely the kind of motion picture that Hollywood does not make anymore. At its' center is the superb performance by Linney (who by the way scored an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actress in 2007 for this) - and its clearly an honor-worthy performance. Special mention must be made of the actor who plays the father - his expressions vacillate from bored, disinterested & tired to frantic, confused and violent - watching the other actors put in reactive performances to his outbursts are acting lessons in motion.
"The Savages", for all its dreary subject matter, is also a wonderful commentary on how we treat our parents in their old age. I doubt any of us are doing the 'best job we can', as the siblings in this film sadly find out. What is even harder to do is to care for a parent who didn't bother looking after you when you were growing up. To what extent should you bear responsibility? Do we consider our aging parents a burden or a comfort? Do we look after our aged to assuage our own guilt, or because we truly want to care for them? Very rarely do we even bother to ask ourselves these questions, but "The Savages" will make you wonder what sort of people we are, and how ageism is treated in our current global climate.
What I especially liked about this movie, is that despite its rather short running time (a little under two hours), its very rewatchable - with some great one-liners and situational dialog. Also, watching Laura Linney's facial expressions are enough to convince you that she's one of our contemporary greats. Another great film shes in is "The House of Mirth" with Gillian Anderson.
Four Stars. A great slice of 2007's independent movie scene.
Movie Review: Of bedpans and Brecht
Summary: 4 Stars
Syemour Phillip Hoffman, the Charles Laughton of his generation, delivers a superb performance in "The Savages", the latest offering from writer-director Tamara Jenkins ("Slums of Beverly Hills"). In a bit of inspired casting, Jenkins has paired Hoffman up with one of the finest character actresses around, Laura Linney. Hoffman and Linney are Jon and Wendy Savage, middle-aged siblings who find themselves saddled with the responsibility of caring for their estranged father, who has been diagnosed with dementia. When his "girlfriend" of twenty years dies, the elder Savage, Lenny (beautifully played by veteran stage actor Philip Bosco) is kicked to the curb by her adult children, who now legally own the house that the couple shared.
Neither Savage sibling is well-equipped to take care of this sudden and unwelcome burden. Each is suffering through their own mid-life crisis, and lead somewhat self-absorbed lives. Wendy is an aspiring playwright, supporting herself by working temp jobs as the writer's grant rejection letters pile up. She lives alone in a modest NYC apartment (with the requisite cat) and gobbles down anti-depressants while slogging her way through a half-hearted affair with a married neighbor. Jon is a drama professor at an upstate college, spending his spare time doing obsessive research for a book on "the dark comedy" of Bertolt Brecht (in one particularly wonderful scene, he grooves to Kurt Weill while cruising in his car, high on Percocet). His love life is also in disarray; his live-in girlfriend of several years is heading back to her native Poland because her visa has expired (along with any hopes of a marriage proposal from the commitment-shy Jon).
Necessity sparks an uneasy family reunion as Jon and Wendy scramble to find a nursing home for Lenny, whose moments of lucidity are marked by the demeaning verbal abuse that obviously drove the siblings apart from their father in the first place (and explains the self-esteem issues that pervade their adult life). It doesn't take long for long-dormant rivalries and simmering resentments between the brother and sister to re-emerge as well.
This is one of those family angst dramas that could have easily turned into a wrist-slitting downer in the Eugene O'Neill/Harold Pinter vein. After all, it does deal with some heavy issues; existential middle age despair and the looming prospect of the inevitable downward spiral of our parents' "golden years" does not exactly make for "feel-good" fare. However, writer-director Jenkins strikes a nice balance here; while her script doesn't sugar-coat the film's central theme (i.e., we're all gonna die) with maudlin sentimentality, she still provides just the right amount of levity and very real, life-affirming moments to make this an engaging watch. It doesn't hurt to have the monster talents of Hoffman and Linney on board. I know this is a dreaded cliché, but they made me laugh, and they made me cry. I'd rate this one three and a half Percocets.
Movie Review: Engaging realism
Summary: 4 Stars
4 1/2 stars.
The Savages immediately brings to our attention the
uncaring treatment of the elderly by caretakers in
its opening scene. And calls into question the high
tolerance one must have to deal with people in a decrepit
condition suffering from diseases that can regress one
back into child-like behavior.
Two estranged siblings (Laura Linney and Philip-Seymour
Hoffman) are quickly called upon to help their unpleasant
father whom is diagnosed with dementia. The daughter, Wendy,
realizes the gravity of the situation and seeks to fulfill
that motherly instinct by caring for a man who could hardly
be called a father. The son, Jon, is initially reluctant and
uncaring of the father's plight, but gives in due to Wendy's
pressure and his obligation as a son. Down the road we are
given glimpses of the father's true colors at the most
inopportune moments, hinting at what a truly horrible man
he was. Mr. Savages old film reel is shown one night at the
home, adding racism to his list of horrible traits.
The wounded siblings seek to establish some form of a normal
love life, but it is precarious at best, as the daughter
sleeps with a married man she has no intellectual or emotional
connection to. When this man brings attention to the reality
of the situation, Wendy quickly severs contact. Subesquently,
she becomes infatuated with a Nigerian caretaker, one who
shows her the attention that she desperately craves. In an
awkward scene the two sit side-by-side and Wendy unexpectedly
puts a move on the man, and makes the comment "I'm so gross!"
when her advance is rejected (A symptom of her father's racism).
Despite her beauty, she does not see herself as beautiful and
does not feel worthy of true emotional intimacy, but only
physical love with no strings attached (A symptom of incest
by the father?). The son fairs just as badly, rejecting emotional
commitment and making far-fetched excuses as to why he cannot
be with a woman that clearly cares about him, or is at least
trying to. Amusingly, the two become judges of each others torn
lives, but fail to be introspective of their own.
The actors play these flawed characters superbly with nuance
and realism, exposing those repressed emotions at just the
right moments. The film's main points of human fallibility and
death are done so effectively; leaving the viewer to be
introspective of our own lives and sympathetic to those close
to us. "The Savages" certainly deserves the awards it has recieved
and I will be on the lookout for future films by Tamara Jenkins.
This is the third film in which Laura Linney soothingly says
the name John (The Mothman Prophecies and the John Adams series
being the other two, though there might be more).
Movie Review: Aren't We All 'Savages'?
Summary: 4 Stars
Writer/director Tamara Jenkins' "The Savages" is one of those rare coming-of-age films that avoids cliches and comes across wholly genuine. Jenkins understands that coming-of-age is not only for the young, bringing out in her characters what the average filmmaker would easily miss. Her directing skill is also profoundly exquisite - she does not merely capture her Oscar-nominated screenplay on celluloid but makes it transcend the screen. No High Definition necessary.
Jon and Wendy Savage, portrayed by the aptly-celebrated Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney, are a brother and sister whose vast emotional distance is mirrored by their respective residences in Buffalo, N.Y. and Manhattan. This comfortable disparity is severed, however, when their equally distant father Leonard, played by Philip Bosco, succumbs to dementia brought on by Parkinson's disease soon after his long-time girlfriend passes away. Floating in and out of consciousness, he is no longer able to fend for himself, forcing his children to undertake the difficult task of transporting him from sunny Arizona to frigid Buffalo where they can more optimally watch over him in a private nursing home.
The premise is hardly light, but Jenkins finds humor in the seemingly mundane. Jon is a philosophy professor consistently teaching new ways to open the mind yet could not be more closed-off to any viewpoints other than his own. Wendy divides her time between writing her "subversive, semi-autobiographical" stage play and romping with her neighbor in spite of his being married mostly because she is fond of his dog. Meanwhile, facing the fact that they must care for their father - a father who never truly took care of them - becomes more cumbersome for the duo than they care to admit.
In her third Oscar-nominated performance Linney is fantastic as usual, fully capturing the difficult transition that Wendy has to make not only where her father is concerned but in how she must rescue herself from artistic and personal stagnation. Hoffman also impresses as the more cynical of the duo, wrapped up in collegiate pretense and personal demons. Bosco may have the most work cut out for him, however. Perfectly bringing to light the capricious consciousness that accompanies dementia, he clinches Jenkins' poignant script.
The icicles of New York State reach out and grab the listener as fully as the palm fronds and summer breezes of Arizona with Jenkins behind the lens. A screenwriter with her astute directing skill is a rare commodity, especially in today's fickle industry. The subject matter may run the risk of becoming dour or cloying, but she never allows it to fall into those traps. Interjecting her grave, gripping premise with subtle, wry humor, she makes "The Savages" a true pleasure.
Movie Review: Hoffman and Linney are great here
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked The Savages. It's a film that allows its characters to be. They can be selfish, petty, disconnected from other people and from deeper feelings; they're not particularly likable or have a winning charm. But the movie still gives them humanity; mixed in with their stark flaws are some decent impulses and moments of laughter, growth and understated connection.
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney in large part make this humanity and sympathy for the characters possible; they become their characters, Jon and Wendy, a brother and sister who suddenly find that they need to care for their estranged father. Hoffman gives Jon a scruffy hyper-intellectuality. He conveys cynicism, boredom, and skepticism with a single deadpan look; he can make himself look wonderfully pained and long-suffering, both for comic effect or to convey real anguish. Laura Linney plays Wendy as bright, neurotic, and full of child-like confusion and hurt. You sense that both these characters never really left their childhoods behind, that they're stunted; throughout the film they become less stunted, if only slightly, and in certain ways more wise and appreciative of life and its possibilities. Hoffman and Linney are also great at conveying the unspoken, unsentimental bond between the siblings; Jon and Wendy understand each other and are present in each other's lives in ways that don't need to be articulated. I enjoyed that element of the film - the kind of relationship the siblings share.
Though the movie reveals at several points that their father, Lenny, was neglectful and abusive, it doesn't dwell on these painful past events. It's about the present - where the characters are in their lives, and how simply attributing their current poor choices and character flaws to their bad childhood won't in and of itself do much to help them improve or move on. I like how, instead of some grand triumph, the characters change in smaller but also meaningful ways, though they're still far from perfect. And the last shot in the film lifted my heart a little.
I wouldn't say that this is a great and tremendous film, but it's worth watching just for Hoffman and Linney's performances. The dialogue's also sharp, full of dark humor and interesting observations, and I liked how the film understands the characters and for the most part lets them just be who they are.