Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Where Does Theatre End and Real Life Begin?, 3 May 2008
"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
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Savages, 24 Mar 2008
In Sun City, Arizona, Lenny (Phillip Bosco) and Doris are happy living their lives out and keeping each other company in their twilight years. That is until Doris dies whilst out getting her nails done, and her family decide to put boyfriend Lenny's years of sponging off her at an end. As a result, it falls to Lenny's estranged son Jon (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and daughter Wendy (Laura Linney) to arrange his care. After years of drifting apart, both emotionally and geographically, they must band together to care for a man who was never there for them, but who is slowly sinking into senility.
Having witnessed both her grandmother and father slip away for her after suffering from dementia, writer/director Tamara Jenkins has used her experience to create a script which, despite dealing with a difficult issue, is humane and filled with dry humour and wit. It's also a film of it's time, as in the developed world has an ageing population, and is being forced to address the issue on how we care for love ones in their old age.
The film opens in a pristine, cutesy retirement village, with Peggy Lee's `I Don't Want To Play In Your Backyard' playing as we are shown American retirement at it's best. She then transports us into Lenny's house, where we see any old man being chastised by his carer for not flushing, and then proceeding to write a rude word on the bathroom wall with said unflushed item. And this is the beauty of this film. Jenkins manages to bring the audience's expectations crashing down around them, by going from serious to comedic and then back again in mere frames. It's this juxtaposition between the light and dark which keeps the audience engaged in the film. The pairing of the two locations - the exotic retirement home village in Sun City, Arizona and frost bitten Valley View care home in Buffalo, New York - help to portray the bleak light in which people view old age.
At the heart of the story lies the relationship between Jon and Wendy, whose lives are an emotional minefield. Jon is an insular theatre professor, who is scared of commitment and lives in grey suburbs of Buffalo, attempting to complete his gift to the world - a book on Brecht (check Wikipedia). Wendy, a temp-cum-unsuccessful New York playwright, has a romantic life which goes no further than a bit of fun with her married neighbour. They also have different views on what to do with their father: Jon wants to go for the realistic fix, whilst Wendy wants to check her father into an upscale home which they can ill afford. Watching the reconnection between these two souls is probably the most touching part of the film, especially the scene featuring the tuna melt and a neck sling. The Linney and Hoffman pairing pull these two characters off perfectly, and this is hopefully a partnership which we will see working together again in future films.
The performance given by Phillip Bosco is also an interesting insight into the slide into dementia. Usually, these people are portrayed as spectators to events which are going on around them - mere shadows in their own lives. However, in The Savages, we see a dementia suffer who hasn't been fully taken by the disease, and who does still have some of his faculties about him. This can make it all the more difficult to watch, as questions arise as to whether Lenny's silence is due to confusion or sadness.
The ending is slightly schmaltzy, but with fantastic performances from the three lead actors, and a script which is sharp and amusing, this is probably the best family comedy-drama since Little Miss Sunshine.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
NOT Blu-Ray, 3 Mar 2009
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.... and lo-and-behold.... it's too good to be true - just a standard DVD. Don't be fooled.
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