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The Savages

The Savages (2007)

November. 28,2007
|
7.1
|
R
| Drama Comedy

A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.

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Scanialara
2007/11/28

You won't be disappointed!

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Acensbart
2007/11/29

Excellent but underrated film

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Intcatinfo
2007/11/30

A Masterpiece!

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Allison Davies
2007/12/01

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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David
2007/12/02

A believable, albeit tongue in cheek look at how a busy and somewhat estranged brother and sister have to come together to interface with the cold hard reality of their father's sudden decline. Some exquisite little bits of absurdity tucked in its pockets, which anyone who has been through such an experience will appreciate the hell out of. When you're in such a situation, everything is turned upside down and inside out. It's like emotional rape, and finding the humour in it is sweet relief indeed. The film plays with how this kind of situation plays out in the real world, with people tied up in jobs and in different places. The conflict of necessary pragmatism VS sentimentality. What care and compassion the person needs offset against how good a parent they were. The cold perfunctory chain of profiteers waiting to take their cut every step of the way. A shockingly dehumanising and disrespectful process that criminalises children and humiliates parents. It's wrong on so many levels and when you come to have to deal with it you can't help but be disturbed by it. It's the great shame of the western world, how we treat our elderly in deference to capitalist demands. So I think it's good that people are making films about this subject. It's the best thing I've seen Laura Linney in. Her character is such a delicious bag of clumsy contrasts. Sometimes strong and independent, other times regressing(as Hoffman's character puts it at one point) into the little sister/daughter. But always lovable and hilarious. Some of the gestures and looks from her and Hoffman throughout this are priceless. Superbly acted and directed and written. I wish these people made all my movies. Well these kind of movies anyway. I know it's an over-used phrase but I firmly believe this is an under- rated little gem.

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851222
2007/12/03

Greetings from Lithuania."The Savages" (2007) is a solid drama with some good performances. It tells a story of a brother and sister who kinda gets reunited after starting to take care of their old father. This is not original story or idea, nor the movie itself is very original. But this is a very solid picture, you won't find anything new, but many things works here to create this interesting mood - at the face of death it springs with hope and as one poster inside of the movie says "Every day is a new beginning".Overall, "The Savages" is a solid motion picture. It has very good performances, good script, solid directing and very well pacing. At running time 1 h 43 min. this movie barely drags and it's a solid viewing.

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jerzyrex
2007/12/04

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney give us a pair of performances right out of their standard playbooks...and the remarkable thing is that they both work so well. Hoffman's slobby demeanor, unshaven face, red eyes and a delivery so bored you can tell it just feels like his character can barely stand the idea of talking are nothing new...but they are still effective. Linney gives another over-energized, on-the-edge but super intelligent performance...again, nothing new...but still very welcome.These two play siblings of the Savage family, who, while not exactly estranged, probably aren't spending much time with each other either. Hoffman is a Brecht scholar and professor in Buffalo, and Linney works as a temp in NYC, while waiting for a grant that will allow her to pursue her dreams of playwrighting. They are brought together when they have to bring their father (Philip Bosco) back to New York after his long-time girlfriend dies. Dad is suffering from early stages of dementia and has other ailments, so Hoffman persuades Linney that the only place for dad is a nursing home.I fully expected this movie to be an indictment against our treatment of the elderly, or one of those family dramas where everyone yells at each other all the time. Instead, the siblings are mostly uncomfortable with each other. Each is in the end-stages of relationships and neither feels comfortable sharing much about their personal lives. They agree to live together for a little while, so they can trade off looking in on dad. The movie mostly explores their brittle relationship with each other. Dad clearly wasn't much in the parenting department, and no doubt his kids owe a lot of their failures and foibles to that fact...but Dad is now mostly a non-entity. He sometimes recognizes them, and sometimes he resists efforts to move him or change his clothes...but mostly he is lost and passive. He's hardly the man they both grew to dislike...he's mostly an obligation. To the credit of the brother and sister, they never argue over who will "take care of dad" or spout clichés like "you're getting off easy." They both understand that this burden has fallen to them, and while not happy about, they will handle it.Hoffman is more practical. He finds Dad a nursing home near his house. It's got a plain exterior and feels like a hospital. They take medicare and can provide for dad. (In fact, I really enjoyed the fact that this home, while still somewhat depressing, actually cared for its patients, treated them with respect and didn't generate any enmity from the audience.) To Hoffman, the place is fine. Linney wants dad somewhere "nicer," preferably a place in Vermont. She is somewhat driven to find her dad a nicer spot...probably out of some misplaced guilt.Not a lot happens in this film. Director and writer Tamara Jenkins is very blessed to have these two great actors, because they make all their interactions crackle with wit, sadness and believability. They love each other...but not in a way that gives them much joy. They are siblings who share little beyond an appreciation for theatre and a dieing father. Yet in many ways, the movie shows them jockeying for the approval of the other. Linney wants to be successful in her brother's eyes, because she thinks he looks down on her. Truth is, he doesn't look down on her all that much...but he's pretty down on himself too and that drags everyone under. Hoffman and Linney are a great cinematic team, and I'd love to see them work together on something again. They whole time I was watching them, I was imagining seeing them in a play together...that would be worth seeing.Philip Bosco is also VERY good as the father. His expression alternates from confusion to anger to disappointment to sadness to emptiness to very mild happiness. He's not an easy guy to like...but he is by no means the clichés dementia victim so many movies dish out. In fact, Jenkins has made all three characters very specific and unique. While it's always a bit heavy-handed to see characters who are writers or "in theatre," even that works for this film, because these two have to live out pretend lives because their real lives hold so little joy. (It's a very nice touch that Hoffman is a Brecht scholar...Brecht was all about the head and not the heart. He didn't want his plays to have real emotion...Hoffman's character is somewhat afraid of real emotion too.) This isn't an earth-shattering film. It has moments of great humor and also some sadness. Mostly, it just feels like a fairly believable slice-of-life. It's not an important film...but it has some great performances, and that makes it very worthwhile.

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rooprect
2007/12/05

This is a great movie, but pay no attention to the DVD packaging calling it "darkly funny", "singularly funny" and so on. While it does have a few good gags that made me laugh out loud once or twice, it's only about 25% comedy and the rest is a heavy, emotional drama about the painful subject of slow, lingering death.Two siblings (played by Laura Linney & Philip Seymour Hoffman) are burdened with the task of taking care of their estranged father who they learn is suffering from dementia. The comedy is just enough to keep it from getting too depressing but not so much that it upstages the gravity of the situation.The pacing is appropriately slow. You'll find no car chases, shootouts, contrived romances or M-Night-Shyamalanian twists; the story is not even very significant. Instead, pay attention to the relationships between the characters, their emotional disconnection from each other & the world, and their efforts to confront their lack of intimacy. What's interesting about this movie is that it begins with no details about the characters, but slowly the past emerges and is only fully explained in the final scene.If you like movies about real life, I think you'll enjoy this. And if you're interested in films about families/people dealing with illnesses & disorders, also check out "Away From Her", "Autumn Hearts", and "Phoebe in Wonderland" ...all good movies without the standard Hollywood cheese.

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