The Savages Review
by Steve Rhodes (steve DOT rhodes AT internetreviews DOT com)November 21st, 2007
THE SAVAGES
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2007 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Although Tamara Jenkins's first film (THE SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS) might be thought of as something of a camp classic, it is an easy film to enjoy and savor. In complete contrast, the equally well acted THE SAVAGES, Jenkins' second feature film, can sometimes be very hard to watch.
But, like the bitter medicine your mother used to give you, it can be quite effective, even if you secretly hope you never have to endure it again.
The subject of THE SAVAGES will hit home for many of us, especially those of us in the leading edge of the Baby Boom generation. As we age, we come to fear, not our own mortality, but that of our parents. And, most of all, we live in dread of the time that our mother or father might develop dementia or have to live in a nursing home -- or both.
Using dark comedy as an instrument, writer and director Jenkins tells the story of Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco), an estranged father who can no longer take care of himself or his bodily functions. After his girlfriend dies, his girlfriend's kids kick Lenny out of their house, where he was living. They think the responsibility of taking care of Lenny should fall completely on Lenny's two kids, Jon and Wendy. These characters, clearly named after ones in PETER PAN, are played perfectly by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney. In fact, the subplot of their relationship is the one I found most enjoyable, perhaps because it was much easier to take.
The script makes a bold move in its opening. But I would argue that it was so strong that it was a mistake, needlessly turning off the viewers. When we first meet Lenny, he is playing with his feces. And, although we "just" see his excrement covered hands, we are told that he had just been writing on the walls with his own bodily waste. Rather than warming up the audience, this shocking scene causes most of us to think "Oh, yuck!" even while we try out best to feel nothing but concern and sympathy for poor Lenny.
The movie plays ironically happy music as we drive down a Sun City, Arizona street. With a cinematographic look of an old home movie, we go down a wide street lined with tract homes and large palm trees and cactus. Jon and Wendy, two busy but not very successful professionals, resent their having to leave their east coast homes -- which look cold and miserable -- to take care of the father that they have long since abandoned. Of course, they will soon be shuffling him off to a nursing home to live the rest of his days on earth.
My audience laughed often, but for me it was more a film to be admired and endured. I loved many of the individual moments, especially one in which Wendy can't look her father in the eye, as Jon and Wendy explain the Advanced Health Care Directive form to their father, but I found the story too much to bear. I was glad to leave. It was good that I saw it. I'd even recommend it to you, but I wouldn't want to put myself through it again.
THE SAVAGES runs 1:53. It is rated R for "some sexuality and language" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film opens in limited release in the United States on Wednesday, November 28, 2007. The movie was shown recently at the Camera Cinema Club (http://www.cameracinemas.com) of Campbell and San Jose.
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