Movie Review - “The Savages”
*** STARS
“The Savages” is about a pair of unhappy, never-married, middle-aged siblings who are estranged from their emotionally abusive father who is unraveling from dementia in an old folks home. Visiting their father in his nursing home and their father’s eventual death helps each sibling to better deal with their love relationships with others.
As they put their lives on hold, Wendy and Jon are forced to live together under one roof for the first time since childhood, soon rediscovering the eccentricities that drove each other crazy. The movie stars Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney who are two of the most focused, natural actors working today, they are perfectly cast as the dysfunctional brother and sister.
“The Savages” is at times grimly funny and purposefully unsentimental in all of the right places. Director and Writer Tamara Jenkins wrote one of my favorite little comedies from the nineties called “The Slums of Beverly Hills”, which is another hidden gem with a snazzy screenplay for adults worth checking out.
I enjoyed the light as air plot and down to earth dialog in this movie. The time went by real fast in the movie theater and it gave me time to appreciate Laura Linney’s subtle Oscar nominated performance. At times this movie can be painful, poignant, earnest and pretty depressing up until the final, uplifting scene. “The Savages” was a rare treat!
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