The Savages

The Savages (2007) is an American comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM, written and directed by Tamara Jenkins. It follows a brother and sister who spent most of their lives trying to put distance between themselves and their difficult father. That distance runs out fast.

Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) are both somewhere in their forties, each quietly failing at adulthood in different ways, when their estranged father Lenny slips into dementia in Arizona. They fly out, argue over nursing facilities, argue over each other, and slowly face a past neither of them wanted to revisit. Philip Bosco plays Lenny with the full weight of a man who can no longer be held accountable. Jenkins earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay; Linney was nominated for Best Actress.

There's no catharsis neatly delivered here. The film sits with the mess. Watch The Savages online on iFILM.