The Savage (2007)

Directed by: Tamara Jenkins | 109 minutes | comedy, drama | Actors: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, David Zayas, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Cara Seymour, Tonye Patano, Guy Boyd, Debra Monk, Rosemary Murphy, Hal Blankenship, Joan Jaffe, Sage Kirkpatrick, Salem Ludwig, Sandra Daley , Peter Frechette

Tamara Jenkins’ tragicomedy ‘The Savages’ received many awards at international festivals and also received two Oscar nominations (for the acting performance of Laura Linney and the screenplay) and a Golden Globe nomination (for actor Philip Seymour Hoffman). Yet the film was never included in the regular 2007 cinema program. Now, of course, a lot of films are made every year, many of which do not make it to the cinema. But in the case of ‘The Savages’, this has definitely been a weird choice. Besides the fact that the film received a lot of recognition and also won some lesser-known awards, it is a very good film that is worth seeing.

Painful moments, confrontations, but also the necessary tragicomic entanglements alternate at a pleasant pace. Not a slow dragging film, but one that comes and stays close. Perhaps too close for some and that may have been the reason why he has been banned from the silver screen, cinema operators simply love full screens. After all, there are still so many awards and recognition from the critics, death and death and a painful past that cannot be reversed are not the favorite subjects of a large audience, not even a small one.

The main characters, a brother and a sister, with a traumatic past about which not much is actually revealed, except in somewhat casual, subtle ways, are confronted by each other with wrong choices that have unnoticed their lives into a vale of tears. Neither seems to be succeeding in getting his/her life on track so far. Not that they are on the drink and drugs, no, they are just like the rest, full of dreams and wishes, but also full of entrenched patterns and very low self-esteem. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman are used to portraying this side of life in film. Linney did a great job in ‘The Squid & the Whale’ (2005), a film that suffered from the same distribution problems as ‘The Savages’ and Hoffman’s middle name could be mister seamy, judging by his long list of confrontational roles in films like ‘Happiness’ (1998), ‘Love Liza’ (2002) and ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’ (2007). Neither actor has ever been cut out to be superstars in Hollywood, they really don’t have their looks for that, but with their acting performances they have distinguished themselves from the gray masses for years, again here.

Therefore, this is a film that is absolutely recommended for those who enjoy the highest quality realistic acting and are not afraid (for precisely this reason) of being confronted with the other sides of life, which are actually almost anti-Hollywood: that of death and decay, the pain of the past and dealing with it, which is actually equal to forgiving and perhaps starting over. So just let yourself be carried away by this fine story about real people and have no fear: the reality is ultimately much lighter than you might think, it just depends on how you look at it.