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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a moving journey into the lives of two very real siblings. Faced with the unexpected responsibility of dealing with a father who barely deserves their meagre emotional resources, they deal with the problem, with each other, and with their lives.
Like many people in real life, there is no simple resolution, no uplifting revelation, no emergence: they just move on to the next struggle, with some hope. It is that that makes this a first rate film, that it can be believed and experienced - and it certainly reflects what most of us know at one time or another.
Hoffman and Linney are absolutely wonderful. Their relationship is difficult and you can feel the tension that continues, even though the details are only alluded to rather than spelled out. You simply feel for them, you don't judge them or laugh at them. It is realism at its very very best. Individually, their lives are also not easy, but to say they are losers or crippled like some reviewers have here is an over-statement: like many of us, they are wounded and doing the best they can.
Then there is the father, whose behavior and sins are only to be guessed. He is a shell of a man, sometimes lucid, sometimes slipping into the kind of evil you suspect he perpetrated. Yet they still feel some love and caring for him and take their responsibilities seriously. It is a painful spectacle, but very real.
Recommended. This is a splendid journey into areas rarely covered by film, without frills or silly plot twists.
Like many people in real life, there is no simple resolution, no uplifting revelation, no emergence: they just move on to the next struggle, with some hope. It is that that makes this a first rate film, that it can be believed and experienced - and it certainly reflects what most of us know at one time or another.
Hoffman and Linney are absolutely wonderful. Their relationship is difficult and you can feel the tension that continues, even though the details are only alluded to rather than spelled out. You simply feel for them, you don't judge them or laugh at them. It is realism at its very very best. Individually, their lives are also not easy, but to say they are losers or crippled like some reviewers have here is an over-statement: like many of us, they are wounded and doing the best they can.
Then there is the father, whose behavior and sins are only to be guessed. He is a shell of a man, sometimes lucid, sometimes slipping into the kind of evil you suspect he perpetrated. Yet they still feel some love and caring for him and take their responsibilities seriously. It is a painful spectacle, but very real.
Recommended. This is a splendid journey into areas rarely covered by film, without frills or silly plot twists.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"It's the pleasure of a true-to-life tale told by a director and actors who've sunk so deep into their movie together you wonder how they ever surfaced. You live with Jon and Wendy Savage gratefully, even when they can't always do the same." Manohla Dargis
"They mess you up, your mum and dad," Philip Larkin wrote, says Peter Travers. The two Savages, Wendy and Jon are as screwed up as they come, but they are likable, wonderfully human people. Wendy lives in NYC and is a temp while trying to write plays, and John is a professor of Brecht in Buffalo- and yes, they do shuffle off to Buffalo. Wendy has a married lover and Jon a Polish girlfriend, but he is not able to commit, and her visa expires and she leaves. Their father, with whom they have been estranged most of their life has dementia and needs care. Here they come to the rescue- they travel to Arizona to bring him back to Buffalo and a nursing home. All the trials and tribulations of caring for a father, with whom you have little in common, who probably physically abused you, and who can still get to you in those little ways.
The film of the days in the life of a man who is dying. Lenny, played by Philip Bosco is a stage actor who has completed 40 films, a true actor. Wendy as played by Laura Linney is as always a study in the definition of pure acting, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, as Jon, who is a giant in our acting industry more than bring this film together.
This is a movie of appreciation for the nature that goes into making us who we are. Because as brother and sister Jon and Wendy are able to bring it all home. Not enough superlatives can be stated about the acting and the three actors who make this film. This is also a film of humour, of the everyday issues and problems that raise their head and the circumstances that make us laugh. There are no answers in this film. How do you find a nursing home for your demented father? How do you make that room one you want to live in? How do you provide love when there wasn't any at the beginning? Tamara Jenkins, the writer and director has provided a story that none of us want to live, but one we all need to see.
"Jenkins and her three astonishing actors create comic devastation out of situations as serious as a mental meltdown and picking out just the right nursing home. There is nothing cozy about The Savages. Bosco, a theater legend, seizes his juiciest film role and makes every shocking moment count. And Linney is an amazement, showing vulnerability and strength at war for a character's soul. As for Hoffman, is this his year, or what?" Peter Travers
This film is one that is so poignant, and we can all see some vestiges of our families in this tale. There have been few films that show us what real life is like when someone in our family has dementia. This film portrays that reality with humour and finally with understanding.
Highly Recommended. prisrob 04-26-08
"They mess you up, your mum and dad," Philip Larkin wrote, says Peter Travers. The two Savages, Wendy and Jon are as screwed up as they come, but they are likable, wonderfully human people. Wendy lives in NYC and is a temp while trying to write plays, and John is a professor of Brecht in Buffalo- and yes, they do shuffle off to Buffalo. Wendy has a married lover and Jon a Polish girlfriend, but he is not able to commit, and her visa expires and she leaves. Their father, with whom they have been estranged most of their life has dementia and needs care. Here they come to the rescue- they travel to Arizona to bring him back to Buffalo and a nursing home. All the trials and tribulations of caring for a father, with whom you have little in common, who probably physically abused you, and who can still get to you in those little ways.
The film of the days in the life of a man who is dying. Lenny, played by Philip Bosco is a stage actor who has completed 40 films, a true actor. Wendy as played by Laura Linney is as always a study in the definition of pure acting, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, as Jon, who is a giant in our acting industry more than bring this film together.
This is a movie of appreciation for the nature that goes into making us who we are. Because as brother and sister Jon and Wendy are able to bring it all home. Not enough superlatives can be stated about the acting and the three actors who make this film. This is also a film of humour, of the everyday issues and problems that raise their head and the circumstances that make us laugh. There are no answers in this film. How do you find a nursing home for your demented father? How do you make that room one you want to live in? How do you provide love when there wasn't any at the beginning? Tamara Jenkins, the writer and director has provided a story that none of us want to live, but one we all need to see.
"Jenkins and her three astonishing actors create comic devastation out of situations as serious as a mental meltdown and picking out just the right nursing home. There is nothing cozy about The Savages. Bosco, a theater legend, seizes his juiciest film role and makes every shocking moment count. And Linney is an amazement, showing vulnerability and strength at war for a character's soul. As for Hoffman, is this his year, or what?" Peter Travers
This film is one that is so poignant, and we can all see some vestiges of our families in this tale. There have been few films that show us what real life is like when someone in our family has dementia. This film portrays that reality with humour and finally with understanding.
Highly Recommended. prisrob 04-26-08
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
this is a great film and interesting to see what family dynamics can go through. Both characters have their certain dysfuntions and innapropriate behaviours. They have different personalities that support one another. I like this film because it was not the usual hyped up action and the acting was effortless and so real. It is one of those films where you can just sit back and the worries of the world will disolve whilst being immersed. I would say this appeals more to the 30plus age group. Comforting to those who are happy being single. Laura Linney and Paul Seymour Hoffman play a brillian role. Highly recommended film, one to watch again a few months later.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
DVD Quality... of course!
No comment on the movie. But it is a DVD listed as a Blu Ray....
Published on 30 Mar 2009 by W. Ramackers
NOT Blu-Ray
Please note this is not a review of the film but of the product. It is NOT a Blu-Ray disc. I ordered this item last week thinking it was too good to be true.... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2009 by S. Hockett
My Favourite of 2008
Before I go on, let me make perfectly clear that The Savages is not going to be a film that is for everyone's taste. Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2009 by Balraj Gill
Thought-provoking
The title might give the wrong impression as to the theme of the film as 'Savages' is the surname of the three main characters. Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2008 by Bluebell
A chance to look life in the face
The Savages is the story of two adult children grappling with the care of their father as he faces the final phase of his life after his second wife dies, leaving him homeless and... Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2008 by Eclectic Reader
your mum and dad really...
Well made, worthy, introspective film about an abusive dad falling into dementia and dying and how his two, moderately unhappy middle aged children cope. Read more
Published on 15 July 2008 by 2cleverbyhalf
The Savages
In Sun City, Arizona, Lenny (Phillip Bosco) and Doris are happy living their lives out and keeping each other company in their twilight years. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2008 by C. MacLellan
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