Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT EAN: 0024543506799 Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Twentieth Century Fox Manufacturer: Twentieth Century Fox Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 22, 2008 Running Time: 114 minutes Sales Rank: 1535 Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Amazon.com: It's almost impossible to describe The Savages in a way that makes it sound as richly engaging and enjoyable as it is. The story sounds bleak: Two unhappy siblings--Wendy (Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me) and Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote)--are forced to grapple with their dying father (Philip Bosco, Damages) as he slips into dementia. But this spare outline doesn't capture the wealth of human detail that the script and performances contain. Linney and Hoffman vividly portray the sort of cluttered, precarious relationship that brothers and sisters can have, thick with past grievances but also unspoken affections and connections that can't even be articulated. As Wendy and Jon struggle to make some kind of peace with their difficult father, watching these wonderfully understated yet compelling actors is a pleasure unto itself. But the script and direction deserve these actors; filmmaker Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) finds honest emotion and sly, sideways humor in the starkness of mortality. She doesn't force any easy epiphanies on her story, but lets the characters find solace through their own clumsy efforts. Anyone who appreciates the messiness of humanity--the territory that Hollywood movies seem to have surrendered to smart indie films like The Squid and the Whale, Little Children, or The Good Girl--will find The Savages a smart, genuine, and empathic portrait of life. --Bret Fetzer
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Average Rating:
Rating: - Well-acted and very human
Fine performances by Linney and Seymour-Hoffman are the main attraction is this movie. They play a brother and sister who shoulder the burden and responsibility of caring for their aged, and once abusive, father in his final weeks.
We're not exactly told how the father treated them when they were young -- it's hinted at rather than made explicit. The father, now demented, still shows flashes of his old temper from time to time but is now just a shadow of his former self, both physically and mentally. When the woman he has been living with for the past 20 years suddenly dies, it falls to the borther and sister to care for him. They move him from Arizona into a nursing home in Buffalo, New York where the son lives.
The movie provides some interesting contrasts between the cookie-cutter sub-division in Sun City Arizona, full of old people whizzing around on golf carts, and gritty, snowy, miserable New York ... Read More
Rating: - Fine acting, very human
Fine performances by Linney and Seymour-Hoffman key this story about a brother and sister forced to step in and care for their demented father in his final days. It appears the father abused them as children, although we aren't really told exactly what he did. When his girlfriend of 20 years in Arizona dies, his children move him into a nursing home in Buffalo, New York.
The movie makes much of the visual difference between the cookie-cutter sub-division in Sun City Arizona, full of old people whizzing around on golf carts, and gritty, snowy, miserable New York -- which still feels much more authentic.
The nursing home is not exactly a dump but it's not luxurious either. The staff is well-meaning for the most part. But there's no sugar-coating the horrors of this kind of old-age and death.
Both lead characters are flawed, both failures in their personal lives and in their professions ... Read More
Rating: - Every aspect of this film fits like a glove...
Let's talk for a minute about the perfect actors for the perfect script. As I watched `The Savages' last night I couldn't help but think that these actors couldn't be better suited for this film. Both Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman have this incredibly natural dry wit about them that plays so well with the tightly woven dramedy Tamara Jenkins penned. Every line felt real and connects with the audience as it connects with the actors. There is nothing fake about this movie, for the actors understand their characters.
But this film is so much more than just a mere actor's showcase. No, `The Savages' moved me more than many other films this past year. In all honesty it is truly one of the best films I've seen to tackle the parent/child/sibling relationships in quite some time.
Wendy and Jon Savage are a unique brand of adult, thanks in large part to their unnatural (or all too natural) ... Read More
Rating: - a timely story--I loved it
I'm glad I didn't see this film first in theaters, but now, a year later when I can laugh all the more at the accuracy of its story about wounded adult children struggling to deal with their dying father. Great acting, excellent script, compelling story and characters, nicely filmed and edited, entertaining AND it has something to say. Not sweet or bitter, sentimental or tragic, this is the reality that every generation deals with if they live long enough, and I found a lot to make me smile, some sadness, commiseration, and closure--I haven't seen anything to compare.
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- Every aspect of this film fits like a glove...
