Mona, Ryan and I just saw The Savages today. This is the kind of movie that Mona and I would hope we could make one day. Everything about it plays into what we love about cinema.
The story is pretty simple, a brother and sister are forced to take care of their aging father after his girlfriend dies. This is the stuff of TV melodrama, sure but in the hands of the director/screenwriter Tamara Jenkins and two of my favourite actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney this material just soars above the competition.
The way the scenes unfold and linger is what all domestic dramas aspire to. Sure it's not a flawless film but it feels exactly the way it should: natural. There is absolutely not exposition, you are literally thrown into these peoples lives and little by little you learn about them, but not too much, just enough to want to know them more.
There are no great triumphs or wrap-ups in this movie. It's depressing as hell and makes you want to cry in more than a few scenes but in the end it inspired me to write the feature Mona and I want to make this year. Now if we can just hold onto this feeling we have right now until post production.
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