The Savages are, foremost, a completely dysfunctional family. Jon (Hoffman) and Wendy (Linney) Savage are middle-aged siblings who have little to show for the lives they have led. She is an ‘aspiring’ playwright and he is can author and college professor. Nevertheless, they are smart and articulate. Over the years, the two have drifted apart from each other and one could go as far as to say that they are estranged, in every way. She lives in NYC and he lives in Buffalo, as well as becoming estranged from their father, Lenny. Lenny (Bosco) is living in Sun City with his girlfriend/companion, and the siblings have not heard from him in a while. That suddenly changes when they get a phone call from Lenny’s companion’s family telling them that he is losing his mind. To the point where he is writing on the bathroom walls with his excrement. What would Jesus do?

Neither of the two siblings are able to take care of anyone other than themselves. Jon is an arrogant and self-important and Wendy is narcissistic, and one must remember that only opposites attract. Jon has commitment issues, and Wendy just wants to be liked. He has a girlfriend of sorts, a Polish woman, who wants to marry him but he has cold feet about it and just like that, she is back in Poland. Wendy is having an affair with a married man, but it is clear she wants more. By now it should be clear that the two are almost complete failures in life, so when that call comes through for them to fetch their dad, it is almost as though it is a blessing in disguise.

Now Lenny is sick and is in need of his children’s help. They dislike him very much and seem to place all of their blame, for the fact that their lives are meaningless, on him.  Unfortunately, in life, something outweighs hate or dislike and always makes an appearance when we need it the least. A little demon called responsibility. How the siblings deal with this ordinary duty is remarkably honest. Jon would like nothing more than to get his dad off his hands as soon as possible and move on with life, where he would like to go in life is undetermined. Wendy suffers from a guilt attack and comes to a point where she knows this family responsibility is too big to ignore and she only wants to care for her father they way he failed to care for her and Jon.

There are arguments and fights between the two, showing their immaturity but mostly just how scared they are, despite all deceptions and defences put in place. Their father is dying and no matter what his faults and flaws are/were, in that specific moment the two are able to put the past aside, pull their socks up and deal with the situation, for what it is, the end of a life. However, where there is death, there is usually a birth. It is no different in The Savages, but instead of a birth, the two main characters are given the opportunity to be ‘reborn’.  There is no doubt that a degree of ache and turmoil will follow the resurfacing of painful memories that come with letting go, but that is reality - something no one can escape. There is no more time for the two to be as delusional as they were before. They have the chance to move forward and use whatever discoveries they have made about themselves during their journey for the better. They have the opportunity to make something more of themselves, not necessarily career wise or even as brother and sister, but as ‘grown ups’, the kind that could be called the ordinary heroes of everyday life.

Tamara Jenkins has created a film about a self-destructive family that is profound and free of most clichés. Her actors in the film are what make it moving but also significant.  Their characterization is beyond brilliant, and together with their incredible comic timing and perfect impromptu authenticity, you cannot help but feel as though you are watching something that you have never come across before. This feeling is odd, because these days almost every indie-minded film tackles family dynamics and dysfunction, but then again the film is so unsentimental and poignant, this feeling is hard to deny.

Fatac Rating: ****½

The Savages. Written and Directed by Tamara Jenkins. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney and Philip Bosco.Running time: 113 minutes. Age restriction: 16 LSM. USA 2007. Rating out of five stars.