The Savages

It's nearly a decade since Jenkins' debut with The Slums of Beverly Hills. Here she writes and directs what is clearly an autobiographical project that she crafts into a dark comedy. Oscar-nominated Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman are thoroughly convincing as middle-aged siblings unexpectedly and unwontedly thrown together by the increasing dementia of their father (Philip Bosco). It's a rare film that provokes reviewers to wish there had been more exposition, but just whatever happened to the missing Mom? Watch and decide. Otherwise, the combination of laughter and pain lift this well clear of worthiness into good entertainment.

Thanks to Film Quest