The Savages Review

The Savages
*****

If you're looking for a best picture of the year, you can't really go wrong with the Savages. I'm not saying it's MY best picture of the year, or that it's my favorite movie of the year. I'm just saying you couldn't go wrong giving it the title of best picture. It is artistically and expertly structured, engaging with both it's story and it's performances, and is simply fascinating to watch. Basically, it is a well made film. Whether the content is your cup of tea or not is up to you to decide.
The Savages is mainly about three people; a brother who recently deported his girlfriend back to Poland, his younger sister who has somehow received funding for her play, and their father, an elderly man who has demonstrated mental instability with his forgetfulness and tendency to smear his own fecal matter against the wall in spite of his belligerent caretaker. "Spite" is the key word here, as every action in the film has some undetermined decisiveness to it. Even the father's senility, in his forgetfulness of his children and his surroundings, could be construed as a choice. The characters harbor feelings of abandonment and loneliness, feelings which are only exacerbated by their own choices which tend to plunge them headlong into seemingly impossible situations. There is a lot of backstory here, and the film manages to show all of it without giving all of it away.
If there is anything certain about the Savages, it is that it is a very literary film. There is a lot to explore and distinguish, and there are certainly a lot of profound ideas concerning adulthood and the choices people make. With that said, I will again leave the movie up to you, because as a best picture that really is the most you can ask for. I highly recommend watching the Savages and would consider the ten dollars a solid investment.