Sundance audiences are supposed to be the most receptive moviegoers in the world, so on Day 2, I decided to spend a bit of time with the punters at three back-to-back premieres. The premiere of Sundance Lab alum Tamara Jenkins' The Savages, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney, was wisely held at the festival's largest venue, the Eccles Theatre, a ginormous high school auditorium which holds over 1,200 people.
Since I had some time to kill, I queued up early waiting for the doors to open--I was second on the line so no problem, right? I spent my time chatting with four pleasant, young movielovers from San Francisco, but when they finally let us in, very close to start time, we were surprised to learn that about 800 people had already been seated. I found a seat crammed between 2 burly guys, and sighed with relief when they moved and I was left with the only two empty seat in the house on either side of me. (Being a high school auditorium, the seats are not big enough to fit grown men comfortably; I think a lot of people would be happier with a venue that holds only 1,000 in more comfort.)
After director Tamara Jenkins introduced The Savages with a disclaimer about it being completed two days prior, the familiar Fox Searchlight logo announced the fact that the studio brought something else to the fest besides their checkbooks this year. The movie properly kicked off with an MGM-like dance number in the Sun City, AZ locale where the elderly Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco) lives with his common law wife until she suddenly dies. Lenny's kids John and Wendy (Hoffman, Linney) haven't seen their father in years, having escaped their dysfunctional family ties to set up new lives for themselves on the East Coast, but when Lenny starts showing signs of dementia, his kids are called to Arizona to try to figure out what to do with their ailing father. Suddenly, the two have to deal with things like adult diapers and the tough decision whether to put their father in a retirement home.
While Jenkins' film is a dark comedy, it finds its humor in the real-world by encapsulating the emotions that many 30-somethings must experience when their parents start to get older and less cognizent of what's going on around them. The familiar vibe of the film's humorous tone might be partially attributed to Jenkins' hubby and co-exec producer Jim Taylor, best known for his writing collabs with Alex Payne (another EP) on movies like Sideways.
More interesting than the movie's themes of coping with aging is the relationship between John and Wendy and how their own lives and dreams are disrupted by the needs of their father. Wendy is a much more fragile role for Laura Linney than the ones we've seen her in recently, as her need for love and appreciation gets her into an unhealthy affair with an older colleague, while John is trying to deal with his Polish girlfriend moving out of the country. There's a poignancy to the kinship of this duo with a lot of humor comes from their naturally competitive nature. Needless to say, Hoffman and Linney are great as the squabbling siblings, as they fire-off Jenkins' clever patter with the type of perfect timing only two talented actors could muster. Even some of the throwaway lines are hilarous thanks to Hoffman's deadpan delivery, though there may be some who can't find humor in their situation. After a while, the material itself starts to get a bit depressing as things get more serious, and it's always apparent that Lenny's deteriorating condition can only go one way in terms of the story.
Either way, the film is definitely strong enough for Fox Searchlight to position it for awards attention next year for the entire cast and Jenkins' script, though it will be interesting to see whether the movie stands up without the always-rapturous Sundance audience making every joke seem even funnier.
