Rating  - Savagely trite "indie film"
From the opening scene on, it is apparent the director is taking cues from "indie" movies of the past couple decades and exploring well-worn territory. The actors are forced to play scarcely likeable charcters and deliver lines of dialogue better suited for a TV program on the WB network. Have I mentioned I didn't like this movie?
Sure, it offers something different than your average Hollywood pile of hackneyed vomit, but it lacks the substance of truly moving cinema and instead employs cheap tactics meant to make us feel a certain way.
Even though I knew I didn't like what I was watching, I sat through the whole thing to give it a chance to redeem itself. I took nothing away from the experience. I was curious about who was responsible for this, so I watched the behind the scenes featurette wherein the director babbles on and on about her beloved masterpiece. Then I REALLY hated the movie. From my perspective, this is the self-indulgent dabbling of a bourgeois snob with connections.
If you want to see an indie family-drama with heart and soul that really succeeds, check out Noah Baumbach's two most recent films: "The Squid and the Whale," and "Margot at the Wedding."
Rating - Is It Done Yet?
Are we there yet? Can I get that hour of my life back?
It's not nice to "savage" such a highly-acclaimed film about such an important, relevant, timely subject. Movies should be made about this topic. But not this badly-written, ham-handed tripe.
The main actor appeared very natural, most of the time, which really made him stand out in sharp contrast with those who think annoying=emoting. The dialogue was hackneyed, cliched, and just awful. Characterization was flat in places and non-existent in others.
It doesn't matter if your heart's in the right place, movie, or if I agree with you. Don't preach at me, don't insult my intelligence, don't neglect entertaining me, and don't expect me to fall in line with the film festivals.
Is this review savage enough for you? Heh heh. Let this paragraph stand as proof that SAVAGES makes the viewer stupid.
Rating  - Well-acted and very human
Fine performances by Linney and Seymour-Hoffman are the main attraction is this movie. They play a brother and sister who shoulder the burden and responsibility of caring for their aged, and once abusive, father in his final weeks.
We're not exactly told how the father treated them when they were young -- it's hinted at rather than made explicit. The father, now demented, still shows flashes of his old temper from time to time but is now just a shadow of his former self, both physically and mentally. When the woman he has been living with for the past 20 years suddenly dies, it falls to the borther and sister to care for him. They move him from Arizona into a nursing home in Buffalo, New York where the son lives.
The movie provides some interesting contrasts between the cookie-cutter sub-division in Sun City Arizona, full of old people whizzing around on golf carts, and gritty, snowy, miserable New York -- which still feels much more authentic.
The nursing home is spartan and the movie is blunt in painting the misery of this kind of old-age and death.
Both lead characters are flawed, both failures in their personal lives and in their professions -- but they stick together even if they don't like each other much. That's the human heart of this movie -- people doing their best, shouldering their responsibilities despite their many flaws.
My one criticism -- the happy ending tacked on feels false. One feels the characters in real life would have struggled on in much the same way as before. In the movie, the death of their father provides a cathartic event that enables both to set their lives on a better course.
Still, this one is worth a look.
Rating - Fine acting, very human
Fine performances by Linney and Seymour-Hoffman key this story about a brother and sister forced to step in and care for their demented father in his final days. It appears the father abused them as children, although we aren't really told exactly what he did. When his girlfriend of 20 years in Arizona dies, his children move him into a nursing home in Buffalo, New York.
The movie makes much of the visual difference between the cookie-cutter sub-division in Sun City Arizona, full of old people whizzing around on golf carts, and gritty, snowy, miserable New York -- which still feels much more authentic.
The nursing home is not exactly a dump but it's not luxurious either. The staff is well-meaning for the most part. But there's no sugar-coating the horrors of this kind of old-age and death.
Both lead characters are flawed, both failures in their personal lives and in their professions -- but they stick together even if they don't like each other much. That's the human heart of this movie -- people doing their best, shouldering their responsibilities despite their many flaws.
My one criticism -- the happy ending tacked on feels terribly false.
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