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The Savages
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Large Photo
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Amazon.com Sales Rank: 20558
Average Customer Rating: 
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Showing page 1 of 15
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Reviews
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Hoffman & Linney. Acting doesn't get much better than this., January 5, 2009
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Without a doubt, two of the finest actors today, is enough of a draw for me to want to see this movie. While there are certainly people that would choose not to see this movie based on the depressing nature of the subject matter, this is not a sad movie and doesn't attempt to make any statements about the nature of our nursing care system. Instead, one is treated to exceptional acting from two individuals at the top of their profession.
Wendy and John Savage, brother and sister who have grown apart, are thrust together when their father's 20 year girlfriend dies and they are forced to deal with father's dementia. Linney and Hoffman are given a script with wonderfully written dialogue that provides the right emotional balance between heartache and laughter. I did not expect to crack a smile during this movie but was pleasntly surprised with the amount of times I found myself smiling -- especially the scene where Wendy is ticked that she can't find the red pillow she bought for her father.
The cinematography is wonderful and there is magnificient use of overexposed light and darkness when going from Arizona to NYC and Buffalo. My only complaint and what prevented me from giving the movie five stars is that I did want just a bit more of the backstory of Wendy, John and their father. Why did Wendy and John grow apart? What was their father really like? While it is understandable to believe they grew apart and tried to remove as much of their earlier years to move on with their life, but I expected their father's demise to bring about some reminiscing and dialogue about their father and their past.
Needless to say, my critique doesn't diminish the overall strength of this picture and certainly is a must-see for the performances by Linney and Hoffman.
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Touching and empathetic slice of life, January 4, 2009
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This film dealt with how an elder's deterioration affects his middle-aged children. While the characters of the brother and sister are self-centred and somewhat dysfunctional, they both step up to bat to take over the care of their elderly father when his dementia causes a crisis that unfolds with the death of his common-law spouse (the one with the money) out West in the retirement community of Sun City, AZ This is all the more surprising and commendable since the script alludes to the fact that both parents of the siblings had ignored them or abandoned them during their formative years.
However, the need to look after someone other than a plant or a cat shakes up both brother and sister. The father dies in the nursing home (a bit too neatly) but the children are redeemed and each turns out to be a positive influence on the other.
This sad and blackly comic film was beautifully written and had strong performances by all the actors. Laura Linney, and the writer Tamara Jenkins, received Academy Award nominations, definitely well deserved; but Philip Seymour Hoffman deserved one too. Linney and Hoffman were so good in their roles I forgot I was watching famous players. And I knew I'd seen something GOOD.
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Hoffman and Linney are great here, January 1, 2009
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I liked The Savages. It's a film that allows its characters to be. They can be selfish, petty, disconnected from other people and from deeper feelings; they're not particularly likable or have a winning charm. But the movie still gives them humanity; mixed in with their stark flaws are some decent impulses and moments of laughter, growth and understated connection.
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney in large part make this humanity and sympathy for the characters possible; they become their characters, Jon and Wendy, a brother and sister who suddenly find that they need to care for their estranged father. Hoffman gives Jon a scruffy hyper-intellectuality. He conveys cynicism, boredom, and skepticism with a single deadpan look; he can make himself look wonderfully pained and long-suffering, both for comic effect or to convey real anguish. Laura Linney plays Wendy as bright, neurotic, and full of child-like confusion and hurt. You sense that both these characters never really left their childhoods behind, that they're stunted; throughout the film they become less stunted, if only slightly, and in certain ways more wise and appreciative of life and its possibilities. Hoffman and Linney are also great at conveying the unspoken, unsentimental bond between the siblings; Jon and Wendy understand each other and are present in each other's lives in ways that don't need to be articulated. I enjoyed that element of the film - the kind of relationship the siblings share.
Though the movie reveals at several points that their father, Lenny, was neglectful and abusive, it doesn't dwell on these painful past events. It's about the present - where the characters are in their lives, and how simply attributing their current poor choices and character flaws to their bad childhood won't in and of itself do much to help them improve or move on. I like how, instead of some grand triumph, the characters change in smaller but also meaningful ways, though they're still far from perfect. And the last shot in the film lifted my heart a little.
I wouldn't say that this is a great and tremendous film, but it's worth watching just for Hoffman and Linney's performances. The dialogue's also sharp, full of dark humor and interesting observations, and I liked how the film understands the characters and for the most part lets them just be who they are.
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 I love this movie!, December 28, 2008
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Savages is one of the best movies I've seen in years. I cried, laughed, connected and appreciated. It's very human and shows us what it means to be a family. It can be depressing. My boy friend didn't like it but for me watching Savages was like reading a really good, deep, touching novel.
Sj
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Not since American Beauty..., December 22, 2008
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Not since American Beauty have I seen a film this engaging. Some excellent performances punched with very creative direction sets this movie apart. Hoffman has acted very well but the true star of the movie is Laura Linney in a performance of a lifetime.
The story is as relevant as any. I won't talk much about the story not because I don't want to tell you, I don't know how to tell you about it. The music in the film deserves a soundtrack, the sets and the locations are absolutely marvelous.
Overall, a highly highly recommended film.
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Reviews
