The Savages

If you wanted a cheerful pick me up of a movie The Savages might not be the first choice of movie. The movie starts of with two middle ages siblings Wendy and Jon Savage who embark on a new level of adult hood when there Fathers girlfriend suddenly dies and there Father is forced out of his home. The Father Lenny Savage also is starting to show signs of dementia to make matters worse.


The movie is really an Journey mainly from Wendy's perspective of transitioning there father into a nursing home. Her brother Jon is there with her through out most of the movie and they make for a competitive brother and sister rivalry, that in times seems to lighten the mood and distract from the fact that they are indeed preparing for there fathers death.


This Movie with Laura Linney as Wendy and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Jon felt very grounded. It portrayed a window into these two characters lives and did not skip over the bad parts of life. Which Wendy seems to be at a low point of. But she with the help of her brother make it through it.


There were some points of confrontation between Wendy and Jon. In fact it was sprinkled around the movie a little. But there was a time that stood out when Wendy and Jon are arguing and there father who is ridding along in the passenger seat just turns off his hearing aids and pulls up his hood. Almost as if to say I'm done for the day. I'm done with these people. I'm just done. It was through these actions that the father also resembled a teenage who is tired of listing to his parents fighting and show the transition of the adult father now being taken care of by his adult children.


At the end of this movie I felt as though I had gone on this journey with them. Shared there laughs, and felt there pain. Through out all I felt that the characters had come out better for it. In the end I would recommend this movie to watch. Its not a cheerful movie but there are aspects that are funny. And when I walk away from this movie I feel better for having experienced it.