In Sun City, Arizona, the grumpy Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco) has dementia and lives with his mate Doris Metzger (Rosemary Murphy). His son Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a professor of drama in Buffalo that is writing a book about Bertold Brecht. His daughter Wendy (Laura Linney) is a thirty-nine year-old freelancer and aspirant writer of screenplays for theater that lives in New York and has an affair with the middle-aged married man Larry (Peter Friedman). Wendy and Jon are estranged from their abusive father but when Doris dies, the siblings travel to the funeral and are surprised by her family that informs that Lenny must leave the house. Wendy and Jon bring Lenny to Buffalo and leave him in a nursing home. Along the days, they visit their father and try to improve his life.
"The Savages" is a pointless, unpleasant and bitter drama of dementia, family responsibilities and end of life. The performance of the charming Laura Linney and the outstanding Philip Seymour Hoffman are top-notch but the subject of this film is not attractive and Philip Bosco performs a non-charismatic character and when he dies in the end, the viewer feels absolute indifference. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "A Família Savage" ("The Savage Family")
"The Savages" is a pointless, unpleasant and bitter drama of dementia, family responsibilities and end of life. The performance of the charming Laura Linney and the outstanding Philip Seymour Hoffman are top-notch but the subject of this film is not attractive and Philip Bosco performs a non-charismatic character and when he dies in the end, the viewer feels absolute indifference. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "A Família Savage" ("The Savage Family")