The Savages (2007)

“We’re not in therapy now – we’re in real life. ” – Jon Savage

Number of Times Seen – 1 (23 Sep 2019)

Brief Synopsis – Two siblings must deal with their elderly father who is showing signs of dementia as they both have their own troubles in their lives.

My Take on it – This is yet another film that I had no desire to see and only watched it due to my quest to try and watch all films that have had Oscar nominated performances.

It’s actually a shame that I waited so long since this is such a fascinating film because it gives us a great perspective on aging.

This movies tries to show how getting older affects people and how it might even affect us more if we also need to deal with aging parents at the same time.

Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman are both great here as the two siblings charged with dealing with the ailing father, but Philip Bosco stands out as their father and gives such a great supporting turn in this film.

They find a way to set this story up really well and are able to give us a very clear picture of how each of their lives are affected by one another even though they each have enough bumps in their own lives that contribute to them each living with complicated lives.

The dialogue is superbly written and allows for us to see the character development more clearly especially given the fact that they each are given very distinct and quirky personalities which help make things feel even more realistic.

Linney was the only one of the trio nominated for an Oscar for her work here even though I personally think that despite it being a deserving nomination, the other two would have been even more worthy picks.

Bottom Line – Fascinating look at life and how one deals with getting older and at the same time deal with how others around you also get older. Linney and Hoffman are both great here as the siblings and Bosco is sublime as their aging father. The story is set up really well that we get a clear picture of how the lives of all three of them are affected by one another but also have their own bumps along the way that helps complicate things even more. The dialogue is written really well and this helps with the character development since each of them are given very unique and quirky personalities which makes them all feel even more realistic.  Linney was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her work here, but I think both of the men were even more deserving of accolades for their roles.  Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is older brother to Wendy (Laura Linney). In real life, Linney is older than Hoffman. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)

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