Product Details

• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Original language: English, German

Amazon.com
It's almost impossible to describe The Savages in a way that makes it sound as richly engaging and enjoyable as it is. The story sounds bleak: Two unhappy siblings--Wendy (Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me) and Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote)--are forced to grapple with their dying father (Philip Bosco, Damages) as he slips into dementia. But this spare outline doesn't capture the wealth of human detail that the script and performances contain. Linney and Hoffman vividly portray the sort of cluttered, precarious relationship that brothers and sisters can have, thick with past grievances but also unspoken affections and connections that can't even be articulated. As Wendy and Jon struggle to make some kind of peace with their difficult father, watching these wonderfully understated yet compelling actors is a pleasure unto itself. But the script and direction deserve these actors; filmmaker Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) finds honest emotion and sly, sideways humor in the starkness of mortality. She doesn't force any easy epiphanies on her story, but lets the characters find solace through their own clumsy efforts. Anyone who appreciates the messiness of humanity--the territory that Hollywood movies seem to have surrendered to smart indie films like The Squid and the Whale, Little Children, or The Good Girl--will find The Savages a smart, genuine, and empathic portrait of life. --Bret Fetzer

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Customer Reviews

Is It Done Yet?
Are we there yet? Can I get that hour of my life back?

It's not nice to "savage" such a highly-acclaimed film about such an important, relevant, timely subject. Movies should be made about this topic. But not this badly-written, ham-handed tripe.

The main actor appeared very natural, most of the time, which really made him stand out in sharp contrast with those who think annoying=emoting. The dialogue was hackneyed, cliched, and just awful. Characterization was flat in places and non-existent in others.

It doesn't matter if your heart's in the right place, movie, or if I agree with you. Don't preach at me, don't insult my intelligence, don't neglect entertaining me, and don't expect me to fall in line with the film festivals.

Is this review savage enough for you? Heh heh. Let this paragraph stand as proof that SAVAGES makes the viewer stupid.

Well-acted and very human
Fine performances by Linney and Seymour-Hoffman are the main attraction is this movie. They play a brother and sister who shoulder the burden and responsibility of caring for their aged, and once abusive, father in his final weeks.
We're not exactly told how the father treated them when they were young -- it's hinted at rather than made explicit. The father, now demented, still shows flashes of his old temper from time to time but is now just a shadow of his former self, both physically and mentally. When the woman he has been living with for the past 20 years suddenly dies, it falls to the borther and sister to care for him. They move him from Arizona into a nursing home in Buffalo, New York where the son lives.
The movie provides some interesting contrasts between the cookie-cutter sub-division in Sun City Arizona, full of old people whizzing around on golf carts, and gritty, snowy, miserable New York -- which still feels much more authentic.
The nursing home is spartan and the movie is blunt in painting the misery of this kind of old-age and death.
Both lead characters are flawed, both failures in their personal lives and in their professions -- but they stick together even if they don't like each other much. That's the human heart of this movie -- people doing their best, shouldering their responsibilities despite their many flaws.
My one criticism -- the happy ending tacked on feels false. One feels the characters in real life would have struggled on in much the same way as before. In the movie, the death of their father provides a cathartic event that enables both to set their lives on a better course.
Still, this one is worth a look.

Fine acting, very human
Fine performances by Linney and Seymour-Hoffman key this story about a brother and sister forced to step in and care for their demented father in his final days. It appears the father abused them as children, although we aren't really told exactly what he did. When his girlfriend of 20 years in Arizona dies, his children move him into a nursing home in Buffalo, New York.
The movie makes much of the visual difference between the cookie-cutter sub-division in Sun City Arizona, full of old people whizzing around on golf carts, and gritty, snowy, miserable New York -- which still feels much more authentic.
The nursing home is not exactly a dump but it's not luxurious either. The staff is well-meaning for the most part. But there's no sugar-coating the horrors of this kind of old-age and death.
Both lead characters are flawed, both failures in their personal lives and in their professions -- but they stick together even if they don't like each other much. That's the human heart of this movie -- people doing their best, shouldering their responsibilities despite their many flaws.
My one criticism -- the happy ending tacked on feels terribly false.