Saturday, December 01, 2007

FAMILIAL BRUTALITY

The Savages


Whether presented as entertainment, drama or entertaining drama, death has maintained a longstanding relationship with cinema. But when it dictates the story, rather than complementing it, a severe case of tonal imbalance tends to overlap the rest of the picture. In The Savages, Tamara Jenkins’ sophomore feature after 1998’s Slums of Beverly Hills, the morbidity conveyed by a pair of grown siblings coping with their father’s dying days practically qualifies as grief porn—but, since the movie only teeters on the brink of a pity party without relishing the mood, the grief doesn’t venture beyond the point of softcore sadness.

Read the rest of the review in the New York Press...

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