The Savages | Philip Bosco, Guy Boyd

The Savages | Philip Bosco, Guy Boyd | Heavy Character Study, Great Acting

DVDs:

The Savages

	The Savages Philip Bosco, Guy Boyd Twentieth Century Fox, 2008 average customer review:based on 73 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Family resurrection

This is a quiet film that gets us in the grips with reality of what it is to have a family, be a family and take care of the family. A brother (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and his sister (Laura Linney) are forced to reunite upon their learning that Dad's long time girlfriend of 20 years has passed away, he is being kicked out of her house in Arizona by her children due to pre-nuptual agreement that states he is not allowed to stay in the house once his girlfriend (their mother) is dead. What is not helping is that Dad is diagnosed with the early stage of dementia and needs around the clock care. As we watch father and daughter taking trip from Arizona to New York and siblings struggling to agree with their new responsibilites about their long absent parent who never really took proper care of them while they were kids, one cannot be but touched by the fact that these two do have a decency to take care of their helpless father in spite of emotional harm he has done to them as they were growing up. These siblings are damaged goods. They are in their late thirties, early forties, single with mediocre careers barely able to take care of themselves. When they want to feel good, they simply take the pill. But as this story continues, we see brother and sister bond and take care of each other. The death of their estranged parent is a license for both of them to re-examine their lives and start again. The film has many comedic moments in spite of the ulimate sadness of the story. Screen-writting is witty and one must say that Linney and Hoffman are perfect on their roles.

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Heavy Character Study, Great Acting

Awkward coming of age drama with moments of humor that lighten things up to the point that the emotion is tolerable. Coming of age, literally, as a brother and sister in their middle years are forced to come to terms with the dysfunction in their own issues when their estranged father's life drastically changes at the onset of Parkinson's disease.

This is not a light movie. Heavy, heavy themes that lay out life in all it's grittiness and the complexity of human relationships in all of the quirks, masks and coping mechanisms. Poignant to the point that it was almost depressing, but it is filled with a raw kind of beauty and a lot of truth. A deeply character driven film, desperate, raw in several spots. Squeamish viewers may not do well with a couple of sex scenes and an adulterous relationship as well as some coarse language. The end is hopeful.

Great acting. Those who love heavy dramas and character pieces might want to take a deeper look at The Savages.

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Wants and Needs...

Another "not the feel good hit of the summer" - but I loved it. Watching their father just sit as a hostage or observer to the drama going on between the sister & brother was maddening in its reality. The scene at the diner where they are trying to ask him his final wishes without asking him directly. But - the scene that clinches the whole movie - or redeems any of the hurt or anger the story causes - is the closing scene where Linney's character is jogging.

Savages