It is perhaps fitting that I saw The Savages immediately after I saw Juno. Both are movies about people who are forced to use humor to deal with difficult situations. The Savages is not really a comedy, however, despite being billed and advertised as one. It is a drama where you feel like the humor is there to lighten the mood. The movie deals with some very difficult topics, and pulls no punches. Writer-director Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) has written a hard-hitting and often sad story about people who are forced to come together when the person who initially messed up their lives in the first place needs their help. While there are some laughs scattered throughout the almost two hours the film runs, I can't quite convince myself that Jenkins was aiming for straight-out humor here.

Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) Savage are estranged siblings who are forced to reunite with each other when Wendy receives a call that their elderly father, Lenny (Philip Bosco), is suffering from dementia and can no longer live on his own. Both of them have reservations about going to see their father, as Jon and Wendy are still harboring childhood memories about the physical and mental abuse Lenny used to give them. Wendy, in fact, is trying to get someone interested in a semi-autobiographical play she's written about her life growing up. Nonetheless, they must find a nursing home for Lenny, and are all reunited for the first time in years. The pains of the past are evident almost from the moment they are in the same room with each other for the first time. Jon and Wendy are faced with conflicting feelings about helping this man who has given them so much pain in the past. They feel sorry for him, because he has no one left to help him as he slips into his illness, but they also harbor resentment toward him. At the same time, they are also forced to deal with each other, as they are not exactly on good terms with one another to begin with. Wendy moves into Jon's apartment in order to be closer to their father during the time he's adjusting to his new surroundings, and their time together digs up some long-buried emotions and resentments for each other that boil over the longer they are together.

Much like this year's earlier release, Away From Her, The Savages deals with a very difficult subject of a loved one or family member slowly slipping away mentally. You can be there to support that someone, but there's really nothing you can do except watch the illness take over their body. Unlike the earlier film, however, The Savages is a much more brutal and hard-hitting look at the topic, because of the complex feelings behind it. Jon and Wendy seem to be helping their father out of guilt, rather than out of love. Neither of them wants to be with either their father or each other, but they're trying their best to make it work, because they are needed. They start out guarded, hiding their emotions behind smiles and forced tenderness, but very soon these shields begin to break down, and they start to show their real emotions. Jon and Wendy argue about everything, right down to the kind of nursing home their father should be put in. Wendy wants a beautiful and well-landscaped home, but Jon fails to see the point, as he thinks the beauty is just a facade for the misery going on within the building itself. We also get a sense that even though Lenny is slowly slipping away, he regrets many of his past actions. There is a great scene where Lenny sits in a car, while Jon and Wendy are standing outside arguing. As the argument continues, Lenny can hear them, and begins to tear up. He can't say anything to help them, and he also knows that he is somewhat responsible. The fact that his children don't even notice this makes the scene all the more poignant and sad.

And yet, there are many problems in the lives of the characters that the father cannot be blamed for. Both Jon and Wendy are somewhat self-defeated, never living up to their fullest potential. Wendy is a woman who has never quite enjoyed true success the way she's wanted to, and finds herself sometimes forced to lie out of desperation to have someone be impressed with her. When she lies to her brother, telling him her writings have won her a grant, we feel that she is doing it out of the vain hope that he may actually be happy for her for once. When he learns the truth, he ridicules and hurts her. Jon himself seems to be going nowhere with his talent. He is a professor and has been working on a book for a number of years, but never seems to be truly advancing on his own projects and dreams. Both of them hurt each other in order to feel better about themselves, and are trying to prove to themselves and others that they're not failures in life. Both of them are not in control of their lives. Jon just pretends he is, while Wendy seems to be falling apart at the seams as the realization dawns on her that she may never find the happiness she seeks. The bleak and snow-ridden Buffalo landscape that serves as most of the film's setting seems fitting, as it's often just as barren and cold as the lives of the main characters have become.

In a character-driven film such as this, performances are key, and The Savages definitely does not disappoint here. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney make a great match here, and bring the right emotion to their scenes together and their characters. Linney has a particularly difficult job with her character, as she has to make Wendy seem somewhat frantic and frazzled without making her come across as shrill or annoying. She finds just the right pitch with her character, and turns her into someone we can relate to. Hoffman passes his character off as a dismissive and often angry man who finds imperfections in others just so he doesn't have to dwell on his own. And yet, he gives a very human and vulnerable performance here. He is not so smug that he comes across as hateful. It is a very natural performance, and one of the better ones this year. Philip Bosco also does a commendable job, especially considering he has to play a man who is slowly dipping into madness and losing his personality. He doesn't have a lot of dialogue during the course of the film, but he does a great job expressing himself with his face and reaction shots.
The Savages is not exactly something I would call escapism. Despite the fact it's being marketed as a comedy for adults, I think the poignancy, drama, and honesty of the film stand out more than the humor. You may not exactly feel good walking out of this movie, but you will feel you've watched some wonderful performances and watched a film that was worth your time. Walk into The Savages with the right expectations, and you're almost certain to agree that although Tamara Jenkins may not have made a very funny movie, she still managed to make a good one.

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