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...
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...
posted by Eric Kohn at 2:12 PM
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