Voice over casting.

It’s about finding a sound that matches the job. Like a well-tailored suit fits a particular physique, a well-cast voice fits the words and the images of the story it tells. It brings context to the content.

Case in point: Philip Bosco narrating The Crash of 1929 for The American Experience Series televised on PBS.

Give a listen and do get past the introduction. You will be rewarded with a compelling 50 minute recounting about an historic 20th century national financial crisis; perhaps, even a heads up for an early 21st century replay?

You know what they say about history…

For more on the upcoming Ken Burns film “Prohibition”, for which Jeremy provides some of the narration, click this link: Full House Productions: New York’s Premiere Sound Production and Restoration Studio

2007: The Savages di Tamara Jenkins

“Tamara Jenkins ha scritto col cuore e la testa, senza che mai la retorica offuschi la vista. Una lezione di umanità” (La Stampa), “…un film notevole” (L‘Unità), “…il talento della Jenkins sta nella sua abilità di narratrice, nel delineare magnificamente i personaggi” (Il Manifesto), “…un bel film, magnificamente interpretato” (Repubblica).

Raramente l’entusiasmo della critica è stato così giustificato.
Tamara Jenkins, formatasi al Sundance Institute, e con un curriculum di tutto rispetto in campo teatrale a New York, al suo quinto film firma il suo capolavoro. Un vero e proprio piccolo gioiello questo La famiglia Savage, che giustamente ha mietuto premi e nomination un po’ ovunque.
Apprezzabile che sia un’americana ad affrontare temi impopolari come la morte, la vecchiaia, la solitudine, la depressione… veri e propri tabù per una società che fa dell’apparenza della felicità dell’ottimismo a tutti i costi i propri idoli. La regista affronta il tutto con un equilibrio, una misura, una discrezione encomiabili, rifuggendo dal sentimentalismo e dal sensazionalismo.
Psicologie approfondite al massimo, personaggi profondamente umani in cui è impossibile non riconoscersi, ritratto sincero ed emozionante di esistenze complesse e contraddittorie… e quindi vere.
Una sceneggiatura che brilla per sensibilità e intelligenza (che coinvolge e non consente un attimo di distrazione), una regia completamente al servizio della storia narrata (senza inutili virtuosismi), una prestazione attoriale da dieci e lode che vede l’illustre trio (Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco) gareggiare in una eccezionale gara di bravura.
Un film che invita alla riflessione, un film che -nonostante i temi affrontati- lancia un credibile e verosimile messaggio positivo.

Pubblicato su Cineocchio
tuttelerecensioni

Regia: Tamara Jenkins
Sceneggiatura: Tamara Jenkins
Cast: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Cara Seymour, David Zayas, Guy Boyd, Margo Martindale, Salem Ludwig, Debra Monk, Hal Blankenship, Sidné Anderson, Michael Blackson, Joan Jaffe, Tonye Patano, Alyssa Waldrip
Paese: USA 2007
Genere: Drammatico
Durata: 113’
Uscita Italia: 25 Gennaio 2008
Uscita USA: 28 Novembre 2007
Trama:
I due fratelli Savage hanno costruito a fatica un bozzolo protettivo attorno alle proprie vite complicate. Ma ecco arrivare una telefonata, da cui apprendono che il padre Lenny, così a lungo temuto ed evitato, sta lentamente sprofondando nella demenza ed essi sono gli unici a poterlo aiutare.
Note:
Il film è stato premiato agli AFI Awards, al Flanders International Film Festival, al Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, agli Independent Spirit Awards. Premi inoltre dal San Francisco Film Critics Circle, dai Sant Jordi Awards, dalla National Society of Film Critics, dalla Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

It’s been a long, long time since I saw a movie that made me squirm. Alot of squirming. And if you didn’t know better, with a name like “The Savages” and talk of squirming, you’d think this was some horror movie. You wouldn’t be that far off…the reality of aging parents being a heavy and possibly terrifying topic. And its the very reality of it that is so perfectly captured.

The American culture has struggled with this and been picked on for it: how we treat our elderly. What we don’t see in this movie, and barely ever get, is the history of The Savages. We learn, early on, that Jon and Wendy have reason to resent their father…but that’s all we ever get. And in doing so, all we really garner is that these choices and decisions they have to make, while attempting to respect any of the father’s feelings, come with an extra bite. It’s not just a matter of how we do treat our elders, or how we are supposed to. It’s the feelings that get associated with it. Actions, of course, speak loudest. But the turmoil surrounding those actions is what this movie focuses on, and what I believe adds the real power to it.

The movie, while focused around the present life of Lenny Savage (the father), we see it through the eyes of Jon and Wendy. They attempt to balance their father’s needs with their own issues currently going on in their life. It’s hard to grasp the relationship the two of them have. You get the feeling the siblings haven’t spoken in a while, or aren’t very close, as they catch up in very matter-of-fact ways about large events in life. Wendy is more open, and seems to be struggling with the choices before them far more then Jon. We get glimpses of Jon’s pain, but we don’t even always know what is really getting him. But when Jon speaks, he is blunt, not sugar coating things for his father. You just get the sense that his tough-man face gets overwhelmed once in a while. What seems to bring them together is having to find appropriate accommodations for their father, and their unsatisfactory experiences in the middle of their lives. Wendy…wants to be the opposite of Jon . A climatic quote:

Jon Savage: Dad’s not the one that has a problem with the Valley View. There’s nothing wrong with Dad’s situation. Dad’s situation is fine. He’s never gonna adjust to it if we keep yanking him outta there. And, actually, this upward mobility fixation of yours, it’s counterproductive and, frankly, pretty selfish. Because it’s not about Dad, it’s about you and your guilt. That’s what these places prey upon.
Wendy Savage: I happen to think it’s nicer here.
Jon Savage: Of course you do, because you are the consumer they want to target. You are the guilty demographic. The landscaping, the neighborhoods of care; they’re not for the residents, they’re for the relatives. People like you and me who don’t want to admit to what’s really going on here.
Wendy Savage: Which is what, Jon?
Jon Savage: People are dying, Wendy! Right inside that beautiful building right now, it’s a fucking horror show! And all this wellness propaganda and the landscaping, it’s just there to obscure the miserable fact that people die! And death is gaseous and gruesome and it’s filled with shit and piss and rotten stink!

Whether or not Jon is being fair, there is an accuracy to his statement that is undeniable. And thus, the awkwardness in the movie. It’s a whole movie devoted to pointing at the elephant in the room that everyone would be far more content to pretend isn’t there, or atleast pretend the elephant is something far more elegant.

In an early scene, Wendy undoes Lenny’s suspenders, trying to make him look more decent. In doing so, she only sets herself up more for embarrassment in a following scene. Yet her attempts are noble, and is the only one putting forth attempts. Jon, as the above lines show, to him his father has already become an afterthought. That seems to be how he has coped.

In another scene, in order to get into a higher-functioning home, Wendy attempts to help her father cheat on a verbal test to see how bad his dementia is. She justifies this in all sorts of ways…he’s better on other days, it will get him into a “nicer” facility, but as we see again and again, she continues to set up her father for failure. Meanwhile, Jon hurts his father deeply in the way he just tries to approach with a business demeanor. When asking if he wants tubes if in a coma, the father is quite put off by his way of questioning. But it also leads us to an inevitable truh that seems to be the thesis, life is pain.

There is seemingly no hope found within this movie. The characters we find are all struggling. And of course they are…what interest would a movie be without strife? But where is the upside? Where are those moments of uplifting hope. We find them at laughing at life’s absurdness, such as Jon’s incredible device for fixing neck pains. And in what I consider the most painful scene in the entire film, I find myself most often as Lenny, wanting to turn off our hearing aids and shut out the world. And in the movie, we watch these characters assess options, try to open doors, and try to find happiness…and it all too often ends the same way, and none of the options seem to bring anything hopeful.

But very notable, is the ending. Without spoiling anything, in the end, there is hope. There is moving forward, as painful as it may have been to get in that direction. And hell, who knows? Maybe it isn’t even moving forward, but there isn’t this stagnancy that runs rampid throughout the movie. And that is a great final message to leave with in a film such at this. Where it is all too easy to empathize with all of these characters, and I still find myself squirming just thinking of some of the scenes, (Lenny’s movie night, anyone?) I know that life moves forward, ready or not. And there are not perfect answer and perfect solutions in real situations. One cannot erase grudges, one cannot force bonding and love. One can not improve their own situation or other situations simply by trying to pretend they are different then what they are. And one can not improve their situation by just pretending they are tougher and above the situations they are in. The reality of burdens will always catch up.

Wendy Savage: Maybe dad didn’t abandon us. Maybe he just forgot who we were.

Maybe…maybe…the world may never know.

But the movie has a raw power to it that I haven’t seen in a while. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney and Philip Bosco perform their parts brilliantly, along with the rest of the supporting cast. The settings, both interior and seasonal exteriors, set the perfect tones for all the scenes to come. And while its hard to say I really “enjoyed” the film, it is one of the best movies I have seen in the past year.

Sometimes you see a movie that resonates with life. I recently saw such a movie, The Savages, directed by Tamara Jenkins and starring Laura Linney as Wendy, Philip Seymour Hoffman as her brother, Jon, and Philip Bosco and their elderly father, Lenny, who is descending into the bottomless pit of dementia.

The family was never a happy one and Wendy and Jon have both gone their separate ways and have not seen their abusive father for years when they are called upon to deal with his sudden homelessness (his aged girlfriend dies). Despite their unresolved anger toward their father for his earlier treatment, they take on the burden of care, which in this case is placing him in a nursing home.

Living Will, Living Well: Reflections on Preparing an Advance Directive by Dianne Godkin

I found one scene in the film particularly poignant. It takes place in a diner where Wendy and Jon are attempting to have a conversation with Lenny about an advance directive (living will). Wendy is struggling with the conversation and is confusing Lenny as she is reluctant to ask direct questions: what do you want us to do with your body when you die and do you want to be maintained on life support? Jon has much less trouble expressing himself, and when he sees Lenny does not understand Wendy’s approach he says something like Do you want us to pull the plug?

These are real issues for real people and through our work with clinical ethicist Dianne Godkin we are trying to help people deal with these emotional topics. While the University of Alberta Press was preparing to publish her book, Living Will, Living Well: Reflections on Preparing an Advance Directive, I sat with Dianne and we talked about her motivation for writing the book.

She said that one of the most difficult aspects of her work and those of other medical professionals is dealing with family when there have not been any conversations prior to either life-support decisions or death for a cherished family member. Everyone is in a highly emotional state and it is tough to make important decisions. Often, in addition to grief, there is anger and hurt feelings just when people need each other the most. However, there is a way to mitigate the stress: Communication among family members in advance can help to ensure a person’s wishes are honoured and those left behind can feel some solace in having eased the mind of their loved one.

There is no Hollywood happy ending in The Savages; however, there is some healing and closure. I recommend the film for its complexity, humanity, and truthfulness.

~ Linda

Num resumo, diria que é a história de dois irmãos à procura do sentimento Família. É, é todo o significado que essa palavra traz. Onde por vezes, a ruina acarreta traumas. Mesmo que inconsciente, leva-se esse sentimento de perda para suas vidas futuras. Por não conseguirem construir uma família. Num ciclo viciante…

Entrando no filme… Pegos de surpresa, os irmãos, Wendy (Laura Linney) e Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman), recebem a notícia que o pai (Philip Bosco) está senil; fora pego escrevendo recados malcriados na parede do banheiro com a própria merda. E mais, sua companheira de 20 anos, morrera.

Então, os irmãos, separados até geograficamente, se encontram onde o pai residia, no deserto do Arizona. Assim, são levados a rever o passado. Onde nem a figura de uma mãe existia, já que os abandonara. E eles aguentaram o autoritarismo do pai, até poderem caminhar por si mesmos.

A entrada, ou melhor, a volta desse pai, que agora quase uma criança, em suas vidas… Mais que um resgate, mais que despertar velhos fantasmas, vão percebendo que eles ainda são uma família. Triste, como o Jimmy (Gbenga Akinnagbe) achou a história contada por ela… Mas eles são os Savages, eles são uma família. Meio que: “Oras! Triste ou não, é a história da minha família. E ainda somos, ainda estamos como protagonistas dela.“

Bem, se não compararmos com outros filmes, onde adultos ressentidos por não terem recebidos carinho dos pais, é um filme bom. É que não tem nada de tão incomum. É um drama comum. O diferencial, estaria no sentimento de culpa na busca por asilos. Mais ainda, no “acorda” que o Jon dá em Wendy nessa busca.

Os quatro personagens citados, estão ótimos! A trilha musical traz velhos e gostosos hits! Mesmo tendo gostado do filme, não entrou para a minha lista de rever. Nota: 7,5.

Por: Valéria Miguez.

A Família Savage (The Savages). 2007. EUA. Direção: Tamara Jenkins. Elenco: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Peter Friedman, David Zayas, Cara Seymour. Gênero: Drama. Duração: 114 minutos. Classificação: 12 anos.

La familia Savages (The Savages, 2007), 13 de abril de 2008.

Nos encontramos aquí ante una película de lo que se ha dado en llamar cine independiente, realizada por la directora Tamara Jenkins, y que nos traslada a los problemas de dos hermanos ante la enfermedad sobrevenida de su padre, que le discapacita, le vuelve dependiente y exige a ambos hermanos una atención que no prestaban, al encontrarse alejados del progenitor, que no se hizo cargo adecuadamente de ellos en la infancia.

Sin embargo, conforme avanza el filme comprobamos que el proceso del padre sirve para mostrarnos los auténticos problemas de ambos hermanos que son propios, intrínsecos a su forma de ser y a su desarrollo personal, dos personas que están mucho más solas y desorientadas de lo que se reconocen a sí mismas, que están en el salto de los 40 y sin que tengan claro que son o van a ser en la vida. El reconocimiento de esas carencias que se produce en paralelo a la evolución del padre, especialmente en el personaje femenino interpretado magistralmente por Laura Linney, es la columna vertebral del largometraje.

La ambientación de la película es dura, sin concesiones, desde la artificiosidad de los barrios residenciales de una ciudad en el desierto de Arizona, hasta el rigor del invierno en Buffalo, en la frontera con el Canadá, nos mueve por ambientes desolados, poco acogedores para el ser humano. Incluso la humanización que la protagonista pretende en la habitación de su padre está basada en componentes mas bien horteras, vulgares y poco humanos.

Sin embargo, aquí y allí van apareciendo elementos humanos (o animales), pequeños personajes secundarios que van dotando de cierto sentido al viaje de los dos hermanos y que permiten que el final del filme se dote de cierta esperanza y optimismo.

La base de la interpretación está en los intérpretes. Si ya hemos destacado el papel de Linney, no menos magistrales están Philip Seymour Hoffman como hermano, y Philip Bosco como padre. Todos ellos ofrecen unos registros notables en los que se alterna el dramatismo de las situaciones con ciertos toques de humor que provocan inesperadas sonrisas en el espectador, que de esta forma ahuyenta el fantasma del deseo de suicidio ante la catástrofe personal que está presenciando.

En resumen, una película altamente recomendable, no apta para palomiteros ni amantes de la acción, pero que sin duda gustará y mucho a los amantes del buen cine, y especialmente del buen trabajo actoral. Yo le pongo un ocho a todo, dirección, interpretación y valoración subjetiva.

La fotografía de hoy, un grafitti con personajes tras las rejas, paradójicamente en la Calle de la Libertad de Zaragoza. Salud y república.

(Canon EOS 40D; EF 50/1,8)

- JUMPER

Título original: Jumper

Gênero: Aventura / Ficção científica

Ano: 2008

País: Estados Unidos

Duração: 90 minutos

Língua: Inglês

Classificação: 12 anos

Diretor: Doug Liman

Elenco: Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Tom Hulce, Michael Rooker.

Sinopse: David Rice é um Jumper, alguém capaz de se teletransportar, podendo ir a qualquer lugar, a qualquer momento. Sua vida sofre uma reviravolta quando ele percebe que está sendo perseguido por uma organização secreta com a missão de matar os Jumpers. Ele se alia a outro garoto com o mesmo poder, e embarca em uma guerra que já vem sendo travada há milhares de anos. Aos poucos ele descobre uma verdade surpreendente sobre seu passado e o de sua família.

- VELOCIDADE SEM LIMITES

Título original: Redline

Gênero: Ação

Ano: 2007

País: Estados Unidos

Duração: 90 minutos

Classificação: 12 anos

Língua: Inglês

Diretor: Andy Cheng

Elenco: Nathan Philips , Angus Macfayden , Eddie Griffin , Tim Matheson , Nadia Bjorlin.

Sinopse: Ambição, sedução e poder. Tudo isso em altíssima velocidade. É este o mundo no qual Natasha Martin, uma fanática por automobilismo e vocalista de uma das mais promissoras bandas da Costa Oeste, vai se envolver ao pisar fundo em uma competição de corridas ilegais com alguns dos carros mais caros do planeta, organizada apenas para o prazer de um bando de milionários entediados.

- ATOS QUE DESAFIAM A MORTE

Título original: Death Defying Acts

Gênero: Romance

Ano: 2007

País: Reino Unido, Austrália

Duração: 97 minutos

Classificação: 10 anos

Língua: Inglês

Diretor: Gillian Armstrong.

Elenco: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall.

Sinopse: Houdini (Guy Pearce) é um astro internacional e sua incrível habilidade de contornar a realidade encanta audiências do mundo todo. Isolado pela fama e mergulhado em arrependimento, ele lança um desafio com o pagamento de uma alta recompensa para aquele que descobrir as últimas palavras de sua falecida mãe. Sua determinação o leva a ser alvo de vários golpistas, incluindo aí Mary McGregor (Catherine Zeta-Jones) e sua filha Benji (Saoirse Ronan), que aparentam possuir grandes poderes sobrenaturais, mas que na verdade têm motivos bem diferentes para cativar um relacionamento com o famoso mágico.

- A PROCURA DA VINGANÇA

Título original: Seraphim Falls

Gênero: Faroeste

Ano: 2006

País: Estados Unidos

Duração: 115 minutos

Classificação: 14 anos

Língua: Inglês

Diretor: David Von Ancken

Elenco: Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan, Angie Harmon, Anjelica Huston, Robert Baker, Xander Berkeley.

Sinopse: No fim da Guerra Civil norte-americana, pouco antes da virada do século 19, um coronel persegue um homem como parte de vingança pessoal.

- A FAMILIA SAVAGE

Título original: The Savages

Gênero: Drama

Ano: 2007

País: Estados Unidos

Duração: 113 minutos

Classificação: 12 anos

Língua: Inglês

Diretor: Tamara Jenkins.

Elenco: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman.

Sinopse: Os irmãos John Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman) e Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) precisam se juntar para cuidar do pai doente (Philip Bosco). Separados afetivamente e geograficamente por muitos anos, os filhos de Lenny Savage pouco conhecem sobre o homem que tentam salvar. No processo de cura do velho Savage, os irmãos confrontarão suas personalidades em um cômico drama familiar.

- TRAÍDOS PELO DESTINO

Título original: Reservation Road

Gênero: Drama

Ano: 2007

País: Estados Unidos

Duração: 102 minutos

Classificação: 12 anos

Língua: Inglês

Diretor: Terry George

Elenco: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly, Mira Sorvino.

Sinopse: O professor Ethan Learner (Joaquin Phoenix), sua esposa Grace (Jennifer Connelly) e sua filha Emma (Elle Fanning) acompanham o recital do filho mais velho Josh (Sean Curley). No caminho de volta para casa, eles param no posto de gasolina na Reservation Road. O advogado Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) está levando seu filho Lucas (Eddie Alderson) para a casa de sua ex-esposa Ruth Wheldon (Mira Sorvino), após terem passado a tarde juntos assistindo a um jogo de beisebol. Um terrível acidente envolverá essas duas famílias, resultando na morte de seus filhos. Assombrados pela tragédia, cada um irá reagir de uma maneira inesperada para superar a perda.

- PAIXÃO PROIBIDA

Título original: Silk

Gênero: Drama

Ano: 2007

País: Canadá, França, Itália, Reino Unido, Japão

Duração: 112 minutos

Classificação: 14 anos

Língua: Inglês, Japonês.

Diretor: François Girard

Elenco: Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, Sei Ashina, Tony Vogel.

Sinopse: Século 19. Herve Jancour (Michael Pitt) achava que seria feliz para sempre ao lado da amada Helene (Keira Knightley). Mas estava enganado. A próspera indústria da seda européia é atingida por uma praga, e ele terá que fazer uma perigosa viagem ao Japão para negociar a mercadoria em uma ilha misteriosa e lendária. Sua jornada o levará ao temido barão local, Hara Jubei (Koji Yakusho) – e também à sua concubina, garota misteriosa e dona de uma beleza impressionante.

Dirigido por Tamara Jenkins, A Família Savage é basicamente um filme sobre solidão. Falar de solidão é algo complicado: não dava para pedir leveza à diretora (e também roteirista), e de fato ela não conseguiu fugir do drama pesado.

Wendy é a personagem de Laura Linney, uma escritora de dramas do East Village que ainda não conseguiu sucesso, é free lancer para ganhar a vida, namorada do vizinho casado, cheia de manias e neuroses. Seu irmão Jon é vivido por Philip Seymour Hoffman, professor universitário de Buffalo, autor meio obscuro de livros idem, que vive na bagunça de seu apartamento e suas teorias. Philip Bosco vive o pai de ambos, e é em torno dele que a trama se desenrola.

Mas no fundo são três histórias de solidão que se entrelaçam muito mais pelas visões singulares da vida do que propriamente pelos laços (cambaleantes) de família.

Não chega a ser um grande filme: pesado e arrastado muitas vezes, acaba cansando. Mas vale pelas interpretações. Os três estão excelentes. Laura Linney foi quem concorreu ao Oscar deste ano, mas Seymour mostra mais uma vez, e cada vez mais, porque é um dos melhores atores da atualidade.

servizio di DARIA CIOTTI 

(tratto da Nuovo Civitavecchia Oggi di mercoledì 16 gennaio 2008) – La famiglia Savage, di Tamara Jenkins, racconta la storia di Lenny, Jon e Wendy Savage, rispettivamente padre e figli, che dopo anni di lontananza, fisica ed emotiva, si trovano riuniti per uno scherzo del destino.
Lenny, padre autoritario e violento, da cui i figli si sono allontanati, inizia a mostrare i primi segni di demenza senile. Jon, professore universitario, e Wendy, commediografa disoccupata, si trovano costretti loro malgrado a lasciare casa, lavoro e quotidianità per prendersi cura del genitore. Per la prima volta si trovano catapultati in una realtà familiare dalla quale anni prima erano fuggiti e dove non pensavano di dover tornare.
L’occasione serve più che altro ai due fratelli a ritrovarsi, attraverso liti, momenti di commozione nel ricordare i rari attimi di felicità, e recriminazioni. Al centro del ritrovato, seppur conflittuale, rapporto tra i due fratelli si trova Lenny, il padre, vittima (si fa per dire) delle eccessive attenzioni di Wendy, che spinta dai sensi di colpa si prodiga in maniera eccessiva per il padre.
Protagonisti del film Philip Seymour Hoffman, premio Oscar per “Capote” e recentemente apparso in “Before The Devils Knows You’re Dead”, di Sydney Lumet, e Laura Linney, una delle attrici più versatili dell’attuale panorama cinematografico mondiale.
Le interpretazioni di Philip Seymour Hoffman sono sempre una garanzia. Seppur inserito nel contesto di un film, duole dirlo, sufficientemente banale, Hoffman ha dato vita ad un Jon Savage apparentemente superficiale ma che, pur limitandosi al minimo indispensabile, e pur facendolo con una velata condiscendenza, sa cosa significhi prendersi cura del padre. Laura Linney è Wendy Savage, sorella di Jon, che forse a causa dei sensi di colpa mostra un eccesso di zelo nei confronti di un insofferente Lenny (Philip Bosco), che nonostante la demenza mostra di essere più lucido di quanto non possa sembrare e, soprattutto, lascia trasparire una sorta di indifferenza alle cure dei figli. “La famiglia Savage” è di difficile collocazione tra i generi. Non vuole essere una commedia visto il tema trattato, ma allo stesso tempo non riesce ad essere un film drammatico data l’irriverenza con la quale vengono affrontati temi come la morte, la vecchiaia, il senso del dovere familiare. Sicuramente c’è una forte componente grottesca che lo rende “particolare”, ma che non basta, insieme alla partecipazione dei due attori principali, a renderlo un film “interessante”.

Trailer Ufficiale del film

Apparently Tamara Jenkins’ first full-length feature, The Slums of Beverly Hills, didn’t pack enough star power for it to garner her enough recognition and get some notoriety for the outstanding debut. That movie sort of fell though the cracks, and although it has gained some quiet acclaim and more justice in the near decade since it’s release, the fresh talent and original voice that came from Jenkins’ work was not fully known to a more wide audience. It took nine years for us to finally receive a sophomore effort from the writer/director, and this time a bigger chunk of the movie-going world will not be able to go without noticing her gift of creating an outstanding balance between mundane comic environments and deeply familiar family situations. The reason her new film will bring her to a higher pedestal, called The Savages, is simply because audiences are naturally more and more attracted to credible star names, especially names that are on a roll at the time. In independent film, it is hard to argue against Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the most go-to for solid performances and most of the time outstanding choices of projects. And even though Slums might not have gotten the commercial recognition it deserved, it was obvious that Jenkins’ work was well-loved and respected by actors everywhere. I’m sure the parts of John and Wendy Savage were sought after by more names than just Linney’s and Hoffman’s. Once you see this film, you’d never be able to picture anyone else playing these terrifically written and performed characters.

It is apparent in the opening scene, featuring Philip Bosco as the aging Savage father, that Jenkins has not lost her trademark style of making us laugh in the strangest of situations. When their father is basically run out of his girlfriend’s house by her kids after she passes away, John and Wendy Savage must travel across the country from New York to Arizona to find a place for him to live. They have little to no relationship with each other, but it is far more close than that of what they have with their dad, who they haven’t spoken to in a very long time. They are the kind of adults that lack that little something that you get only if you were parented in any decent kind of way growing up. Wendy is the more caring of the Savage siblings, but is in total denial of everything that is crumling in her personal and professional life. She has to do some major persuading to even get her brother to come with her to Arizona. John is a university professor that has problems as well, just in a slightly different manner than that of his sibling. Linney and Hoffman are remarkable as usual, and their chemistry together works even better than one would assume going into the film, for they seem like they could easily be brother and sister in real life. I believe that Hoffman is one of the five greatest actors working today, and will most likely beone of the best to ever live by the time his days end, and he is simply brilliant as John. What is most impressive about this film, however, is the performance of Linney as Wendy, which is really the heart and soul of The Savages. She holds her ground so well opposite Hoffman, which is certainly a tough thing to do, and nearly steals the show with several scenes to display her talents. It is her best performance since You Can Count On Me, in my opinion, and should earn her some independent nominations across the board.

What really makes this a different, special and near-masterpiece of the downtrodden comedy genre is Jenkins’ knack for slightly disfigured, distinctive characters and dialogue that could only come from her pen. It is a more than welcome and overdue sophomore film, which I only consider overdue because I loved Slums to such a high level that nine days was going to be too long to wait for the next work, let alone nine years. Both of her films have extremely similar themes, focusing on the strange bond a family can experience when they’re least expecting to. Although each of her first two films do not reach the level of perfection, I can easily say that they are two treasures of mine personally, and will be singled out as poignant labors of love by an underrated filmmaker.

Rating: A
1 hour 53 minutes
Fox Searchlight

I saw The Savages tonight. On the walk to the theater I called my mother to ask whether or not a week long sinus infection meant I should go to the doctor or just whether I should wait and continue to produce snowstorms of tissues in stomach-turning colors. She said doctor, and asked what movie I was seeing.

The Savages! Phil Bosco’s movie. It’s not Phil Bosco’s movie exactly; as it happens, a triumvirate of Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Philip Bosco means that it’s impossible for it to be any one person’s movie, but she knew what I meant.

Oh, I’ve been wanting to see that, she said.

I think it’s exactly the kind of movie I like. About people who are disaffected and also a family. My mother said yes, that was exactly the kind of movie she liked, too.

The movie was a delight. I had spent most of the day feeling like a complete sinus-infected idiot for some ill-advised drunk dialing I did last night, in which I unsuccessfully attempted to reason someone into letting me come to his apartment and sleep with him at two-thirty in the morning, but the social failings of Laura Linney’s character, Wendy, were awful enough to feel redeeming.

Wendy a self-declared playwright, although no one except a nursing home aide seems to think she has a talent. Her brother, Philip Seymour Hoffman in a role so rumpled it made me wish I’d used my powers of logic I mean seduction on him last night, is Jon, a drama professor. He has more academic cred than his sister, but he also drags around an unspoken artistic ambition that seems to echo his sister’s. Jon is better at hiding himself than Wendy is, and he is also better at leaving someone he loves. But isn’t that always how it goes?

The Savages is a film about theater in several ways. It was perfect for a self-consciously New York audience; when an actor in a play rehearsal asks “should I react when that happens?” everyone in the movie theater who’d ever been near a play rehearsal took great pleasure in their knowing laughter.

I am, perhaps obviously, no stranger to self-congratulation. I am not sure if I appreciated the Richard Foreman poster leaning against the wall of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s character’s living room because I know who Richard Foreman is or because it was honest. Hopefully both.

There was a classlessly loud woman sitting behind me in the theater, who made sure her companions knew exactly why she was laughing and what she knew was going to happen next. Afterwards, I saw that she was sitting with her parents, and I forgave her a little. I always want my parents to think I am very smart, too; as it happens, that’s what The Savages is about. That woman remained annoying, but poignantly so.

At one point, she declared that “Philip Bosco is going to win an Oscar for this.” Philip Bosco is a very fine actor, but I’m unenthused by the

actor plays crazy/ill/fat (sexy/cool?) character=Academy Award

equation. In this case, the illness is dementia, probably brought on by Parkinson’s, so Philip Bosco spends most of the film grunting bitchy things.

His son doesn’t seem to care, but his daughter does. It becomes clear that her father’s current meanness pales in comparison to what he did to his children in their youth, but this history makes Wendy want to take even better care of her father. She is lonely, and lonley people often think that the solution to their loneliness is lavishing unearned love (see my episode last night), but she also seems bored. Wendy wants to make her heroic defense of her father into a drama in which she is the star, and so Jon is right when he calls his sister selfish.

The honesty of The Savages goes beyond the narrative’s dispensing with laborious backstories and tidy endings (okay, so there’s a Golden Retriever and sunshine in the last scene but occasionally such lapses are pardonable). The casting itself relied significantly on theater actors, which gave the the film a basic righteousness and, more concretely, an uncommonly talented supporting ensemble.

I took a cab home on my own dime after the show, which is pretty unprecedented school-night behavior. I just wanted to see the city and breathe the air, not because The Savages reminded me of my love affair with New York–many things do–but because it imparted a certain forgiveness and peace. Wendy and Jon are both pathetic. Wendy is a liar who is having an affair with a very married man–she tells him she might have “a cervical thing” and while he’s kissing her for it he says “my wife had that”–and Jon is a misanthrope who is a bitter lover, but they are a family and they go on living.

Bosco’s character, as it happens, does not. He remains, though, the character least transformed by the final events of his life. He’s not really aware of them, fine, but you get the sense that there isn’t much hope for a man who has lived selfishly for so long, anyway. His children are a different story. As ancient as that message is, it still made me feel worthy enough to spend fifteen dollars going home in a cab.

The pictures in this post are from a visit to Morocco; in the spirit of forgiveness and families and a conversation I had with him earlier today, I hope Jason doesn’t mind that I’m going to post this one:

jason: I feel like I’m turning into an old jewish man

6:19 PM me: you are kind of like an old jewish man

jason: already?

me: but I imagine you were like an old jewish man when you were, like, seventeen. I like it! I like your kvetching! if that’s what you’re talking about.

6:20 PM jason: yeah there’s plenty of that

fuck.

jason: I’ve developed a cough. Weird stomach issues.

me: oh that stinks

jason: insatiable hunger

dry skin

me: oh, jason!

jason: weird colored tongue

me: yikes

jason: itchy kneecaps

6:26 PM me: hahah

jason: it just keeps going. did I tell you it has turned the color of…gold?

Un film del 2006, regia di Tamara Jenkins, con Philip Seymour Hoffman / Laura Linney / Philip Bosco / Peter Friedman. Prodotto da 20th Century Fox (113min)

Drammatico

Faticosamente, i due fratelli Savage sono riusciti a costruirsi una vita lontano dal padre dispotico e autoritario. Wendy svolge lavori temporanei sognando una borsa di studio per scrivere i suoi drammi e ha una relazione con un uomo sposato. Jon invece è un nevrotico insegnante che scrive libri sul teatro brechtiano e non si decide a sposare la fidanzata polacca. Quando vengono a sapere che il padre è stato colpito da demenza, sono gli unici a poterlo aiutare…