STUDIO: 20th Century Fox
RELEASE DATE: April 22, 2008
STARRING: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Philip Bosco
WRITTEN BY: Tamara Jenkins
DIRECTED BY: Tamara Jenkins
FEATURES: Two Extended Scenes
About The Savages Featurettes
Director’s Snapshots

There are certain types of movies that, on the surface, sound vaguely depressing. You know the kind – movies that sound so issue-driven, tragic, or heartwrenching that, to be completely honest, it can be a little hard to make yourself watch on a Saturday night. Schindler’s List is a millions times better film than Sahara or Harold & Kumar, but after a long day of work, when you just want to crash on the couch, turn on TNT, and let your mind go, there are moments where you simply can’t face Liam Neeson’s Oskar Schindler and you turn to the narcotic appeal of McConaughey or NPH. And, while we all understand that reaction, the problem is sometimes, due to a movie’s subject matter, you automatically lump them into that Schindler’s List “serious movie” category, sight unseen. For example, when I first heard that The Savages was about grown children dealing with their estranged father as he lapses into late-stage dementia, I hate to admit it, but, in my mind, it immediately became one of those “issue” movies. My feeble brain said, “Oh well, I guess that it’ll be ‘important’ that I see it. I’m sure I’ll be very moved. Not moved to laugh or anything, but, it’ll probably be good for me to see it. Sigh.”

Let me just say to Tamara Jenkins, the writer and director of The Savages, if you ever run into me on the street, please feel free to punch me in the head for having such a stupid kneejerk reaction. Yes, The Savages is about death, dementia, and family dysfunction, but it’s also gorgeously filmed, impeccably acted, beautifully written, and, first and foremost, it’s a lot of fun to watch. The plot revolves around the two Savage siblings, Jon (Hoffman), a theatre professor in Buffalo who’s trying to finish a book on Bertolt Brecht and commit to his soon-to-depart Polish girlfriend, and Wendy (Linney), an aspiring playwright in New York who spends her days using her temp jobs to submit proposals for writing grants and spends her night sleeping with her unavailable married neighborhood who pops over for quickies while walking his dog. Their already-messy lives are thrown into further chaos when they receive a call informing them that their abusive, long-estranged father Lenny (Bosco) is suffering from dementia and, following the death of his common-law girlfriend, he’s being kicked out of his home in the retirement mecca of Sun City, Arizona. Thus, it’s up to Jon and Wendy to travel to Arizona to pick up their dad, bring him back to Buffalo, and figure out living arraignments that they can afford and that won’t make them feel too guilty in the process. (Wendy, in particular, shudders at the stigma of dropping off her dad in a nursing home.) Meanwhile, there are multiple emotional undercurrents running throughout, ranging from pity to the desire for fatherly approval to the sad fact, which Hoffman beautifully describes in one moment, that the children are taking better care of their father than he ever took of them.

But you see? That sounds kind of like a downer, right? Well, attribute that to my flaws as a writer, not Jenkins’. I was wholly unprepared for how funny, but also how hopeful and wonderfully affirming, The Savages would turn out to be. It’s a story about how two siblings become so much more engaged in their lives as their father inches towards death, and any complaints that the movie is morbid or funereal are completely boneheaded. This is a film with a nicely subversive sense of gallows humor that never seems forced. In fact, The Savages is probably one of the most emotionally honest films I’ve seen in a long time, and, as we all know, that kind of brutal honesty can be very, very funny. I should also note that most people I knew who saw The Savages in the theatre went because they loved the idea of seeing two acting powerhouses like Hoffman and Linney work together and, trust me, you won’t be disappointed. There is such an easy-going chemistry between the two that, even in the most angry or melancholy scenes, you can always sense that sibling link of affection and shared experience lurking beneath the surface, and that’s something that 99% of movie actors just couldn’t pull off. But, for all the attention that Hoffman and Linney received, Philip Bosco deserves an equal share. His portrayal of Lenny Savage holds the entire film together, and, despite all the bad blood and bad behavior on his part, as he moves towards his end, you can’t help but sympathize with the man. Forget Zodiac or Angelina Jolie. The fact that Bosco didn’t get a best supporting actor nod should stand as the biggest Oscar snub of last year.

The DVD of The Savages is much like the movie itself – simple but effective. The picture quality is strong (there was a tiny bit of grain and muddy blacks here and there, but nothing huge) and the sound mix in the 5.1 Surround is equally so. The two extended scenes aren’t really scenes, per se, they’re both extended takes of musical numbers – one of a Sun City tap-dance troupe and the other of a senior lounge singer act – that feature in montages throughout the film. The “About The Savages” featurette is well-produced and has a depth of content that puts it beyond most EPK material, but it’s still woefully short and watching Jenkins so eloquently discuss the origins of the film made me yearn for a commentary track that, sadly, isn’t there. Perhaps the coolest feature is the “Director’s Snapshots” section – a far cry above most DVD Production Stills – in which Jenkins assembles an artful series of production photographs, complete with handwritten captions. It almost looks like a yearbook, emphasizing the post-production crew much more than the film’s stars, and its handmade look makes it all the more endearing. All in all, there’s nothing too fancy about the DVD, but no one is really buying The Savages DVD for online games or a trivia track anyway.

The Savages is a DVD that people should pick up because, beyond its seemingly overwrought subject matter, there lies a fantastically human story that is as funny, engaging, and entertaining as anything you can catch on the Superstation on a lonely Saturday night. And, as an added bonus, you won’t get that guilty “oh-my-god, did I just spend last night watching Wild Wild West?” hangover the next morning.