The Savages is a funny title. It sounds like an inane comedy about Cro-Magnons bonking each other on the head. In fact, it is something entirely different.
From writer/director Tamara Jenkins (The Slums of Beverly Hills), The Savages is a carefully crafted tale of family and death that leaves a strong, if not puzzling impact.
Most directly, the title refers to the film's three main characters. Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a professor in Buffalo teaching absurdist theater and Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) is his younger sister, a playwright in the Village (i.e. a temp). The two siblings are forced to come together to tend to their dying father, Lenny (Philip Bosco). Undoubtedly, the talent of Hoffman and Linney blaze the screen. Bosco, however, deserves the most praise for his stunning portrayal of a dementia patient.
What complicates the film is the depressing childhood Lenny, essentially a single father, gave his children. Though this seems a trite back story, it is made interesting by the fact that Jon and Wendy, armed with Zocor, Percocet and anti-depressants because of their childhood, are forced to give the best care they can to a man who cared little for them. This twist brings out the worst of both characters.
In one of the best scenes, Wendy drags Jon and her father to a posh nursing home, causing Jon to erupt in anger. Hoffman declares that the nursing home's nice settings are just to assuage the family and Lenny is going to die. He reveals his characters unfeeling rationality and we see Wendy's inability to accept reality. In lesser actors' hands, these traits would go unnoticed, but thankfully, Linney and Hoffman deliver the goods.
About an hour into the movie, things seem to drag and we wonder, "When is Lenny going to die, already?" Though this portion lasts for about 20 minutes, the actual death does come and the film's strengths shine. Instead of histrionic tears and a grandiose score, Jenkins just turns the death into a short montage that quickly returns the two characters to their daily lives. We soon learn, however, that this death is not tragedy but catharsis.
Most films would drag out the death, but Jenkins knows her film is about Jon and Wendy reckoning with their father and each other, not the father's death. The final 10 minutes surprise the audience, but are executed perfectly. It is the ending that the characters both need and deserve. The Savages is certainly no cavemen film. Instead, it is a deeply emotional film about a family with a savage past. With two of film's best leads and a quietly powerful script, it is a true gem.
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