The Savages
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Actor: Guy Boyd, Maddie Corman, Michael Higgins, Peter Frechette, Philip BoscoBrand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Cinematographer: Mott Hupfel
Cinematographer: W. Mott Hupfel III
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 114 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
DVD Reviews of The Savages
DVD Review: 2.5 stars out of 4
Summary: 3 Stars
The Bottom Line:
Meandering, slow, and not the comedy that it was marketed as, The Savages represents little more than a boring 100 minutes in front of a TV screen and should be avoided at all costs.
DVD Review: An Unexpected Surprise of a Movie!
Summary: 4 Stars
Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Philip Bosco plays the Savages about an estranged father played beautifully by Bosco who should have earned a Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in this role. Linney, Hoffman, and Bosco have all been accomplished thespians on stage, film, and television. In this film, Bosco is unrecognizable as the elderly father who has been emotionally absent from children's lives. Linney and HOffman are perfect as his adult children who are both somewhat alone in their lives. Hoffman's role as John Savage is a literature professor who knows more about Bertolt Brecht than about his father. Linnney plays his sister who is a doomed love affair with a colleague and aspires to be a playwright rather than a working temp in New York City. When their father's longtime girlfriend suddenly dies, the Savages come together in Arizona where they must accompany their father back to Buffalo, New York near where John lives and works as a professor. His sister accompanies their dementia stricken father aboard the flight. In this one scene and clip, I think of Linney as one of our finest actresses today. The story picks up where the family tries to become a family despite their estrangements from each other over the years. All three of them should have easily earned Oscar nominations for their performances especially Bosco as their father. The brother and sister regularly visit their father in a nursing home which he thinks of as a hotel. Along his illness, I believe both his adult children learn something along the way about themselves and life in general. I don't know much about the nursing home experience to make any comments about it. I liked seeing Margo Martindale (the Riches) and Nancy Lenehan in supporting roles.DVD Review: flawless performances in a timeless motion picture
Summary: 5 Stars
The Savages tells the story of the emotional strife siblings face when their long absent father begins to suffer so much from dementia that he can no longer care for himself. This plot will resonate with just about anyone who has taken care of an elderly relative; and of course professional caregivers may well be able identify with the adult children in this movie, too. The cinematography is very well done and the choreography lacks nothing; but the film progresses at a rate that is much too slow and they could have edited about ten to fifteen minutes out of the picture to make it tighter. On the other hand, however, the acting is consistently wonderful and very convincing.
When the action starts, we are quickly introduced to elderly Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco) who is suffering from the beginning stages of dementia. Lenny lives with his girlfriend of twenty years in Sun City, Arizona; and he doesn't have any contact with his two adult children. It's also explained to us that Lenny wasn't exactly a nurturing father, either. Eduardo (David Zayas), the home health care attendant for Lenny's girlfriend, finds Lenny playing with something that should have been flushed down the toilet. After that, it's only a short time before Lenny's adult children Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) and Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are called in--and they're called in all the faster when Lenny's girlfriend dies and her relatives insist that Lenny move out.
Jon and Wendy fight over where to put their father; but he is soon moved to a nursing home in Buffalo near where Jon works as a professor. Wendy thinks a nursing home is horrible but Jon reminds her they can't afford assisted living and realistically there aren't many other choices for their father. It's remarkable just how much these two adult children care for a father after nearly twenty years of silence, not even knowing where he was living, and taking abuse from him daily when they were both young children and very vulnerable.
It's also interesting to see the emotional pain Jon and Wendy almost silently endure when having to deal with each other and their elderly father. The scars are not healed; and the acting is quite convincing. You can really feel the pent up emotions from the dysfunctional family dynamics that were never resolved. This adds a lot to the movie.
Meanwhile, Wendy struggles along with her married boyfriend Larry (Peter Friedman). Jon breaks up with his girlfriend Kasia (Cara Seymour) after her visa expires and she must return to her native Poland because neither she nor Jon are ready for marriage.
What happens from here? The plot can go anywhere. Will Lenny and his children ever even begin to resolve their differences from the past? Will Jon or Wendy find love? What about Wendy's grant so that she can put on a semi-autobiographical play? Will she get the grant money? Watch and find out!
The DVD comes with some interesting extras; I especially liked the "extended scenes" and there's another very good feature entitled "About The Savages."
The Savages deals with family relationships on several different levels simultaneously and for this reason The Savages is a very good film. True, it moves a bit too slowly and they could have cut a few minutes here and there; but the overall effect is still quite satisfying. I highly recommend this movie for people studying family dynamics and people who are dealing with the issues of caring for an elderly parent. You won't be disappointed!
DVD Review: Nice surprise
Summary: 4 Stars
Savages portrays some of the formidable realities facing baby-boomers as their parents get older and approach death. Having seen the previews, I thought this was going to be an off-beat comedy with an interesting story line, but it turned out to be more of a great drama with comic moments and tension respites here and there (in the right places). The acting was fantastic, and the movie held my attention throughout. Other reviewers detail the dynamics that make this movie a success, and I can't agree more!DVD Review: SUNSET
Summary: 3 Stars
Realistically depicting old dementia-stricken abusive man's last days, this story portraits complexity of inter-family relations while family last time united, emotionally and geographically, around a father last weeks prior to his passing away.
Rather artificial plot is very much sustained with good performance.
Description of The Savages
Academy Award winner?(r) Philip Seymour Hoffman* and Academy Award?(r) nominee Laura Linney** deliver unforgettable performances in this hilarious coming-of-middle age story from Oscar?(r) -nominated writer / director Tamara Jenkins***. Until recently, all John and Wendy Savage (Hoffman, Linney) had in common were a lousy childhood and a few strands of DNA. But after years of drifting apart, they're forced to band together to care for the elderly, cantankerous father who made their formative "challenging." In the process, both of these aimless, perpetually adolescent fortysomethings may just, at long last, have to grow up! *2005: Best Actor, Capote **2007: Best Actress, The Savages; 2004 Best Supporting Actress, Kinsey; 2000: Best Actress, You Can Count on Me. ***2007: Best Original Screenplay, The Savages.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
Beyond The Savages
 More from Laura Linney |  More from Philip Seymour Hoffman |  More Comedies from Fox |
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