Friday, December 28, 2007

THE SAVAGES




Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Philip Bosco: 80-something-year-old Lenny Savage
Laura Linney: his daughter Wendy, an aspiring NYC playwright
Peter Friedman: her next-door neighbor Larry
Philip Seymour Hoffman: her brother Jon, a university drama professor

REVIEW
Good acting is more than just saying the words since what is unsaid is often more powerful and real. If you couple this with subtle glances, realistic facial expressions and other visual clues then you get truly outstanding performances. In this movie there are three of them: each is different, each is believable. As usual Hoffman is simply great (see a recap below of his recent films) and so is Linney. Bosco’s role is one that requires a certain restraint to pull it off and he does.

Having to take care of an ageing parent is something many of us will or have dealt with. Here we get some insight into the difficulties associated with this phase in life and it is not always pretty.

CLASSIFICATION
for some sexuality and language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
 Jon is there to meet his sister at the airport. Current security regulations do not allow anyone not holding a boarding pass to be in the departure lounge.
 While sitting on the floor Wendy does not touch her piece of toast on the plate beside her. In the medium range shots it stays pretty much centered on the plate but in closeups it is almost off the edge.
 When Wendy plugs in the lavalamp it immediately begins to circulate the wax suspended in the liquid. These things take several minutes to melt the wax before any upward circulation even begins.
 Any student of his class would never address him other than Doctor Savage, never as Mister Savage.
 The scene fades to black with Christmas decorations in profusion then an on-screen title shows the time to be “Six months later” so it should be June when the next scene appears. But the sign outside the theater is promoting the upcoming plays for the month of May so really it’s only five months later.
 Jon flags down a taxi. NYC taxis have the number on top lit if they are unoccupied but in this case it is off which means the driver would not stop for another fare.

P.S.
Movie Title\Role
Owning Mahowny\Dan Mahowny
Cold Mountain\Reverend Veasey
Capote\Truman Copote
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead\Andy
Charlie Wilson’s War\Gust Avrakotos

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