Kathy Chan

The Savages

USA, 2006, 113 min

Meet Jon and Wendy Savage. A set of siblings residing in New York who both meander through their own personal midlife crises until unexpected news hits close to home. Their distant father, with whom they had been long separated, is diagnosed with dementia and is being removed from his safe retirement town in Sun City, Ariz. to a nursing home. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Jon, the older brother who at first seems sharp, reclusive with his feelings, and mentally occupied. Laura Linney is Wendy, the single, struggling playwright having an affair with a married and perverted neighbour. Now the siblings have to pick up the pieces and care for their estranged and often snappy father. Blend these factors together, and you get a movie that is sinister in subject matter and humour, yet makes light of an inevitable situation. Parents will age, and children will eventually need to care for them. With a large majority of the movie filmed within the lonely, tacky wallpapered walls of nursing homes, the film hits the spot with the chemistry among Jon, Wendy and their father. The acting is believable as Hoffman and Linney make their torment and flaws so perfectly consuming. Cleverly written with sharp dialogue, The Savages is one you’ll remember.