Review - The Savages
We live in an age where medical science has endowed us with a mixed blessing: We get to live longer, but so do our parents. This has created a host of thorny financial and emotional issues, not the least of which is voiced in this film by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Jon Savage to his sister Wendy, played by Laura Linney, about their father: “We’re taking care of the old man better than he ever did of us.” That is the crux of the conflict: What obligation do children have to elderly parents who failed miserably as caretakers when it was their turn at bat
The theme of responsibility versus resentment might have been given greater play here. Hoffman’s character, adrift from his true feelings, never sits with the emotional fallout of having to deal with the waning life of a man who was, apparently, a real bastard. But that doesn’t diminish the performance. As Jon, he moves around perpetually distracted, going through the strictly obligatory motions of facilitating his father’s care while simultaneously coping with the termination of a romantic relationship. Laura Linney proves his equal as a woman who seems to be failing on all cylinders. Pushing 40, she’s a long-term temporary office worker who can’t get arrested as a playwright and is involved in an affair with a married theater director. She’s just a stupendous mess. Together, these two fine actors are more than the sum of their parts, and they evoke all the nuances of sibling rivalry and attenuated family ties, counterweighted by a shared history of growing up traumatized.
Tamara Jenkins has written The Savages so well (she also directed), the film feels novelistic in its storytelling. Like another work peopled by indelible characters, Sideways, its most revelatory moments lie in finely observed details. Example: During sex, with her married boyfriend furiously pumping away at her to no effect, Wendy reaches out with her hand to pet his dog, sitting faithfully near by.
Directorially, the David Lynchian vision of Arizona as a brightly lit retirement hell (where the Savage father, played by Philip Bosco, resides) overstates the case, as does its contrast to the wintry blue hues of Buffalo. But the acting and writing here are top-notch, and well worth the hour and 53 minutes of your time.
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