Movie Review - The Savages

Tweet

Spoiler alerts - 2007 The last of six movies in this year’s exceptional One In Four movie festival addressing sensitive mental health issues. This one concerns a dysfunctional brother and sister (Savages being their family surname) having to unite to help get their father into a new nursing home after his angry, disruptive behaviour and clauses in his pre-nuptial contract with his dead wife lead to him being thrown out of the home he was in. The sister, Laura Linney, who got the best actress award for her role) is a struggling dramatist, falsely claiming greater success than she has had, and addicted to medical drugs. She is also involved in an affair with an older man who won’t leave his wife for her. The brother, played by Philip Seymour Hoffmann, is a slob, working in teaching drama and he has a relationship with a Polish girl who is destined to be sent home because he can’t commit to marrying her. The siblings seem to have been abused by their father in their childhood, but they find a new bond with him as they help him settle into a new home, which he initially mistakes for a hotel. Astonishingly, and bravely, the film plays as a comedy, though always poignantly and realistically. The father (Philip Bosco) causes various problem, disrupting the home’s movie screenings by mistaking characters on screen for relatives and yelling at other characters to stop hurting them. When picking a movie himself he picks one involving white actors blacking up as minstrels which embarrasses his family in front of a predominantly black nursing staff. Ultimately, the brother and sister will find genuine warmth for one another and by injecting aspects of their childhood into her play, the sister finally gets some success, and even finds an unexpectedly positive way to break free of her relationship with her older boyfriend. We know the characters will remain flawed but they will somehow find the means and courage to go on with life. There was a post-movie talk by a man who has stood by his wife for twenty years since she was struck by early onset Alzheimer’s in her 40’s. He was able to relate his experiences to much that was shown in the movie and remained incredibly positive despite the struggle he has faced often without family support. It was a timely reminder of why such movies and festivals are invaluable to us all. A huge thank you to Comensus, One In Four and Preston’s UCLan University for such an interesting and educationally stimulating festival. I look forward to its 11th year in 2017. Arthur Chappell