Songbird
Mar
5
The Savages
Filed Under Film Box
Hey look it’s Pip with another extremely late review! Oh! It’s my main man Phillip Seymour Hoffman workin’ it wit’ my main woman Laura Linney! Holy crap! Who is this old guy, he’s awesome! Yeah that was pretty much my thought process while watching The Savages. Make no mistake based on my enthusiastic overuse of exclamation points, this film is serious business. It’s about death and family, or lack thereof in this case.
Linney and Hoffman play a brother and sister family. That’s pretty much it since both of their parents basically checked out a long time ago. When I say checked out I don’t mean died, I mean checked out of their lives. Needless to say they both deal with abandonment issues. Both brother and sister are working or want to be working professionally as writers, both revolving around theater and sociology. They’re both smart, articulate and very involved in their fields of interest, just not really with reality and real social interaction. There are oblique conversations about a childhood gone terribly bad thanks to parents that should have never been parents to begin with.
When we finally do meet their father, it’s quite obvious that they have no idea how to be a family since they never have been. I found myself torn between the siblings and their father as far as where my sympathy would lie. On the one hand I can understand a father that just wasn’t there, but on the other I feel for the true loneliness you can see clearly in the father’s eyes. This is all mixed up with my deeply held personal beliefs to never allow my parents into a nursing home, or whatever they call themselves these days, made the film’s core theme complicated for me. I love stuff like that!
Hoffman is, of course, flipping brilliant especially when he cries about eggs. Linney is one of my favorite working actresses, and although I’ve heard this role compared to one she played in You Can Count on Me, I think there’s no real comparison except some similar situations. I expect brilliance from the two leads, but what I didn’t expect was the amazing father played by Philip Bosco. His performance made this film heart wrenching and funny all at the same time. Hoffman is in love with a woman that has to go back to Europe since they won’t get married. Linney is involved with a married man that’s really more in love with the idea of Linney’s character than anything. There’s poop on mirrors… it’s a mess. The ending though, once we get through it to the final shot, really will leave you with a smile that comes from inside.
In short, I hope you check this out on disc if you missed it in the theater as I highly recommend it.
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Wait — Philip Seymour Hoffman is an old guy? He’s 41! You’re crazy! What kind of friend are you?
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Oh, you meant the guy who played the father.
Well. never mind.
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If you ever watched Emily Latella on the original SNL, that was fucking hilarious. Otherwise, it’s just weird, in which case, just move on. Nothing to see here.
Well…I really enjoyed this film, although I had a hard time relating to all of it as I have been pretty blessed with a wonderful relationship with my parents…But I still could sympathize with all the characters…And the ending really will make you smile.
want to check this out foshizzle