Movie Review: The Savages

The Savages (2007) 

Directed by Tamara Jenkins

Written by Tamara Jenkins 

Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney, Phillip Bosco 

Release Date November 28th, 2007

Published January 31st 2008 

Brother and Siste, John (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) Savage, haven't heard from their father in more than 20 years. That isn't such a bad thing, he wasn't a very good father anyway. Now, as he drifts off into dementia, he is thrust back into their lives. Having lived with a woman in Arizona for years when she passes away, dad is now their problem whether they like it or not. Placing dad in a nursing home not far from John's Buffalo new York home, John seems content to wait for dad's last days. Wendy on the other hand is a mess of concern who fusses and worries and searches for a home that will dress up dad's last days with a nice view and some fresh air.

Directed by Tamara Jenkins, inconspicuous since her hip debut flick Slums of Beverly Hills nearly a decade ago, The Savages plays realistically with a sad situation. So real that you may want to prepare yourselves with a bottle of anti-depressants or at least a bowl of ice cream. The sad story is compounded by Jenkins' script which offers these characters nothing beyond grief and sadness. Aside from moments of dark humor that are more apparent to us than to them, John and Wendy live lives of perpetual depression and disappointment.

Essentially, both characters begin the movie miserable. They become progressively more miserable during the story, and then, finally, end up back where they started but with a vague hint of possible good fortune tacked on to the end. The oppressive sadness of The Savages is its defining characteristic, even beyond the strong lead performances of Hoffman and Linney, Linney even having been Oscar nominated for this role. Not every movie has to be entertaining or leave the audience with hope or inspiration. Life doesn't always put a perfect little bow on things and it can be welcome when a movie so readily acknowledges that not everything is perfect. That said, The Savages is not itself, a welcome respite from the sunny aspiration of so many other family dramas, The Savages rather, is simply too sad. It is too oppressive, too unpleasant even for the sad subject at its center.

I was taken back to my feelings about Paul Greengrass's exceptional 9/11 movie United 93. Everything about that film, from an artistic standpoint, was phenomenal and yet I couldn't find one reason to recommend people go see it. Why anyone would want to live those moments again, no matter how skillfully rendered, was simply beyond me. I feel the same way about The Savages. Even with the skilled performances of Hoffman and Linney and director Tamara Jenkins' well demonstrated skills, I can't see one reason why anyone would want the depressing experience of The Savages.

I would love to tell you that you could marvel at Laura Linney's remarkable range or Phillip Seymour Hoffman's uncanny ability for communicating soul deep sadness, but as remarkably realistic as these performances are, the result is so sad, heartbreaking, and relentless that there is simply no way I can recommend it. The Savages is a rare movie that is too good for its own good. It's so well acted and well crafted that it leaves you deeply, woefully sad in a deeply unpleasant fashion that proves to be too much for any general audience movie.