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Director Tamara Jenkins made audiences wait for nearly a decade for her follow-up to the hilarious dark comedy SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS, but it`s been worth the wait. Like her previous film, THE SAVAGES is a sometimes-funny, sometimes-sad look at family dynamics, but this time around the sense of humour is more wry than riotous. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman play Wendy and Jon Savage, a pair of siblings on the cusp of middle age. She`s earning money in New York City as a temp as she writes an autobiographical play about their childhood, while he lives in Buffalo, teaching college students and finishing a book on Bertolt Brecht. Their estranged father (Philip Bosco) lives across the country, but the Savages reluctantly rush to see him when they learn that he may not be able to take care of himself any longer. Jon and Wendy bicker over problems old and new as they try to figure out what`s best for a man they barely know.
Like Noah Baumbach in THE SQUID AND THE WHALE and MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, writer-director Jenkins knows how to mine family dysfunction for both comedy and drama. Jon and Wendy tear into each other as only people connected by blood can, but their fighting feels entirely genuine, largely thanks to the performances of Linney and Hoffman. Though they`ll get most of the acclaim for their roles, character actor Bosco is heartbreaking as their aging father. Though his decline is difficult to watch, the actor`s performance is absolutely mesmerising.
Die Regisseurin Tamara Jenkins stellt in ihrer preisgekrönten Tragikomödie "Die Geschwister Savage" vor. Eine ganz normale Familie: Ein alter Vater, erwachsene Geschwister, die sich und ihm nichts zu sagen haben. Ein Anruf konfrontiert Wendy und Jon Savage mit der Tatsache sich um ihren inzwischen demenzkranken Vater zu kümmern. Diese Herausforderung wird anfänglich aus Selbstmitleid, Wut und Verzweiflung nur widerwillig von den Geschwistern angenommen. Ein nachdenklicher Film, der durch menschliche Wärme und hintergründigem Humor vom wahren Leben berichtet.
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Peter Friedman