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Savages

Country: united_states

Year: 2007

Running time: 113

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775529/

Michael says: “It took Tamara Jenkins nearly ten years to release this follow-up to her critically acclaimed, debut feature, 1998’s THE SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS. In that time, she shifted her focus from the west coast to the east, from the working class to the middle-class, and from youth to aging, but the dysfunctional family is still the core of her story. John and Wendy Savage are a brother and sister living in New York (John in Buffalo, Wendy in Manhattan). They’ve lost touch with their mother who abandoned them, and their father who abused them. John is drama professor working on a book about Bertolt Brecht. Superficially he’s successful, but his failure to commit to his girlfriend of several years who is about to be deported back to Poland due to an expired Visa exposes his emotional immaturity. Wendy is a struggling playwright who temps at offices to get by while sending letters to foundations desperately seeking a grant or fellowship that would allow her to finish her ‘subversive, semi-autobiographical play.’ She is enjoying (or perhaps enduring) a long-term sexual relationship with her married neighbor. John and Wendy’s father, Lenny, has been living in a retirement community in Sun Valley, Arizona with his girlfriend, Doris, who seems to be suffering from Alzheimer’s, or some degenerative disease. He himself seems to be suffering the early stages of dementia. When Doris dies, her children contact John and Wendy to come and get their father who has no legal claim to her house. The film follows John and Wendy’s emotional difficulties as they bring Lenny, a man who abused them and that they have turned their back on, back to Buffalo and place him in a Nursing Home in a state of helpless need.

“While the overall story in THE SAVAGES is hardly original (2007’s AWAY FROM HER is a far superior look at aging; and there have been a plethora of films about adults overcoming emotional immaturity), the movie succeeds through its smart screenplay and outstanding lead performances. Jenkins wrote the screenplay, and it’s peppered with some terrific dialogue and delightful scenes. If only she had been able to come up with a more original story that worked at the same issues. Fortunately she’s got Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman to play with, and the two of them are masterful in their performances. For those reasons alone I will boost THE SAVAGES to 4 cats

 

Bruce says: “The opening moments of THE SAVAGES feature a group of elderly women performing a Busby Berkeley inspired musical number among sculptured hedges of Sun City, Arizona. The sequence has nothing to do with the film and serves no purpose other than to forewarn the audience. Imagine a shoebox housing random thoughts jotted on paper scraps. One day the scraps are dumped on the dining room table and a screenplay emerges. THE SAVAGES’ script appears to have been developed by similar methodology. The ideas do not add up. The characters are not well developed and seem to exist merely for sitcom opportunities, the one-liners that are amply covered in the trailer for the film.

“Wendy (Laura Linney) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) Savage’s father (Philip Bosco) took off and left his family behind. For years he has been living with a girlfriend who he never married. Their mother also vanished, leaving them orphans of a sort. After spending two hours with Jon and Wendy one has great empathy for their parents. Jon is smart enough to earn a doctorate but is at a loss what to do with it or how to create a rewarding life for himself. Wendy is infinitely less sympathetic. I secretly hope that she was Margot’s (MARGOT AT THE WEDDING) college roommate; rarely have two such loathsome fictional characters deserved each other more. Wendy is passive-aggressive, addicted to pharmaceuticals, prone to telling falsehoods, needy, and – above all – neurotic. She helps herself to others’ property and snoops aggressively.

“A phone call signaling their father’s dementia kicks off the action. The death of their father’s girlfriend kicks off the problems. Jon and Wendy are summoned to Sun City to relocate their father; he and the girlfriend had a non-marital agreement specifying he has no right to her property after her death. It is unclear when they have last seen their father; it is clear that this family has not survived on love.

“So the children are saddled with a parent they hardly know. It becomes their responsibility to put him in a retirement facility and the most likely candidate is one near Jon in Buffalo. As it turns out Jon and Wendy don’t know each other all that well, either. The feeble plot allows them discover one another and the big problems in their lives. Jon has a Polish girlfriend and is ambivalent about her visa’s pending expiration date. Wendy is working on a play and is seeking grants which might enable her to quit her office temp gigs for a while and concentrate on her writing.

“It has been a very long time since I have looked at my watch so repeatedly, incredulous that the film hasn’t reached its end. I found John and Wendy boring, their problems boring and the relationship with their father unbelievable. My great fear is that Jon and Wendy will appear in a sequel, searching for their mother. 2 cats

 

Jason says: “I suppose that those of us who don’t connect fully with THE SAVAGES should count ourselves as lucky; it means in part that we have yet to go through the trials that come with the looming ends of our parents’ lives. Even without the personal experience to back it up, that part of the film is still effective; it’s the title characters who are maybe a bit too much.

“Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) works as a temp in Manhattan while applying for grants to finish her play about her screwed-up family; brother Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) teaches theater in Buffalo. A call from Sun City, Arizona informs them that father Lenny (Philip Bosco) is now their problem after the death of his long-time girlfriend. So they find him a nursing home near Jon’s house and try to do right by him even though he seldom did right by them, resulting in their screwed-up state.

“Movies like THE SAVAGES have to be at least a little mean, but writer/director Tamara Jenkins’s venom frequently seems to be at least a little misdirected. The opening half-hour or so, especially, has a few sequences that seem calculated to make senior citizens look foolish, and while that works when we see Wendy and Jon having less than generous reactions, there has to be a better way to get across that caring for Lenny is going to be a hassle for which his children are not prepared than making all old people look ridiculous. There’s also a few bits of Wendy working out to an exercise tape which makes her look silly, but to no real end – most people look silly in that situation, and that Wendy does doesn’t say anything about her.

“The idea is that title family has difficulty forming connections with other people, which is reflected in their other relationships: Jon can’t bring himself to marry his girlfriend Kasia (Cara Seymour) despite them having been together for years and her impending deportation back to Poland; Wendy has trysts with a married man (Peter Friedman) but seems more enthusiastic about his dog. Wendy and Jon even have problems with each other, although not much worse than the normal tendency of siblings to bicker.

“Since they’re playing flawed characters, it’s natural to have some reservations about the performances. Laura Linney is sometimes a little too much as Wendy, and not necessarily just in terms of how she’s supposed to be a little off-putting. She’s so closed-off most of the time that when she perks up when the subject of meds to put one’s mind at ease comes up, it seems incongruous, especially since they don’t seem to change her behavior very much. Hoffman is his usual reliable self as the somewhat more functional Jon. Bosco mainly has to be a hostile old guy, but gets a lot of credit for making Lenny’s dementia feel much more real than just being a few tics.

“My complaint with THE SAVAGES isn’t that its characters aren’t likable – Jon and Wendy generally come off better than my description, as they are at least trying to do right – but that Jenkins doesn’t use their lesser qualities to interesting ends. Screwed-up people can be compelling, but Jon and Wendy just don’t have enough charisma, positive or negative, to really grab this audience member’s interest.

“Seen 6 January 2008 at AMC Boston Common #19 (first-run). 3 cats

 

 

The Savages

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