MIT Lecture Series Committee

Rated R
113 minutes

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The Savages (2007)

The Sunday show of The Savages has been cancelled.

A pair of siblings are forced to set aside their discomfort with one another for the sake of their father in this low-key comedy-drama from writer and director Tamara Jenkins. Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) is a struggling playwright living in New York City who works a day job to support herself and can't shake the feeling that she's failed as an artist. Wendy isn't especially happy about her love life either, gaining little self-esteem from her on-and-off relationship with oversexed neighbor Larry (Peter Friedman). Wendy's anxieties about her writing career are intensified by the success of her brother Jon (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), who teaches theater history at a college in Buffalo, New York and has published a number of books. While Jon's life seems fine on the surface, a care of writers' block has stalled work on his latest project, and he's deeply upset that his girlfriend is soon to leave the United States to return to her native Poland. Wendy and Jon don't get along and prefer not to see one another, but an unfortunate circumstance brings them together -- their father Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco). Elderly Lenny has began showing signs of dementia, and when he begins smearing his feces on the walls of his Arizona home, his girlfriend announces she's though with him, shortly before she suddenly dies. Wendy and Jon have little choice but to fly to Arizona and see what can be done for Lenny, but their long-simmering animosity makes it hard for them to deal with the realities of Lenny's condition. The Savages received its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. [www.allmovie.com]

The Savages not only boasts Oscar-worthy performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as a self-absorbed brother and sister, its attention to detail makes it sweetly funny and genuine.
      -- John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press. Read this review.

2007 Academy Award Nominations: Best Actress (Laura Linney), Best Original Screenplay