SYNOPSIS: THE SAVAGES is an irreverent look at family, love and mortality as seen through the lens of one of modern life’s most bewildering and challenging experiences: when adult siblings find themselves plucked from their everyday, self-centered lives to care for an estranged elderly parent.

The last thing the two Savage siblings ever wanted to do was look back at their difficult family history. Having wriggled their way out from beneath their father’s domineering thumb, they are now firmly cocooned in their own complicated lives. Wendy (Academy Award® nominee Laura Linney) is a struggling East Village playwright, AKA a temp who spends her days applying for grants, stealing office supplies and dating her very married neighbor. Jon (Academy Award® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a neurotic college professor writing books on obscure subjects in Buffalo. Then comes the call that informs them that the father they have long feared and avoided, Lenny Savage (Tony Award® winner Philip Bosco), is slowly being consumed by dementia and they are the only ones that can help.

Now, as they put their already arrested lives on hold, Wendy and Jon are forced to live together under one roof for the first time since childhood, rediscovering the eccentricities that drove each other crazy. Faced with complete upheaval and battling over how to handle their father’s final days, they are confronted with what adulthood, family and, most surprisingly, each other are really about. © Fox Searchlight. All rights reserved  

REVIEW: Imagine yourself as a middle-aged person, set in your ways and lifestyle, and you still have a parent alive which you really haven’t been in touch with for years. Now imagine getting that call to let you know that your parent is now on their own with nowhere to live and is not mentally stable. What do you do now? This is a common scenario which is easily overlooked and taken for granted by many of us. The Savages, Wendy (Laura Linney) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are a brother and sister that are confronted with that very same situation and somewhat reluctantly come to the rescue of their father, Lenny (Philip Bosco) who is suffering from dementia. Independent films usually have a knack for presenting life on the big screen in its purest form. This is one of those films. It is realistic, enlightening, and depressing too. You are forced to realize that this situation is inevitable in one form or another for the majority of us and it is not to be taken lightly for the sake of the elder. I mean, really, how do you want to be treated when you’re old and dependent?

Dealing with a physically limited person is difficult. Dealing with a mentally challenged person can really test your patience. Dealing with an elderly person is emotionally exhausting. If you put all three together then you’ve hit the jackpot. It really is like caring for a baby only much bigger and therefore harder to manage. Let’s just say that a lot of drugs, such as percocet, are going from hand to mouth in this movie. Wendy and Jon represent your average middle class folk trying to make ends meet and searching for their pot of gold. Enter the wrench and their lives are on hold. They do manage to handle the stressful situation in part thanks to the percocets. One of the pluses of this movie is how real these characters are and how the viewer can relate to them, their relationships, and their circumstances. Well, except for the part that Jon’s on again off again girlfriend can make eggs in the morning that make him cry. I’m not so sure about that. This brings me to another plus . . . there are some moments in the movie when I actually laughed out loud, so this is not a complete downer. The biggest plus is the performance by the three main stars, Laura, Philip, and Philip (no, not a typo, there are 2 Philips). They really did a great job bringing the characters to life without over-acting which makes it more genuine. Their surroundings helped too. Taking place mostly in cold, wet, overcast Buffalo and New York with modest dwellings, modest transportation, and modest lifestyles, it helped create a dreary feeling.

Life, aging, and death kind of sums it all up, doesn’t it? The reality of it all will start to hit you along with heavy doses of guilt like it did for Wendy especially when she started shopping for nursing homes. Writer/Director Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) has a talent for presenting a realistic slice of human drama. Although I can recommend this to those of you that can enjoy a movie on artistic value, if you are looking for entertainment value or a more upbeat, non-depressing movie, put this one toward the bottom of your list of movie choices.

 

Review By Cine Marcos 
cinemarcos@smartcine.com

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