‘The Savages’ is a Play on a Play
Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is scratching out things he wrote on the board just as a student raises her hand. It’s painful the way Jon holds on to the last bit of chalk before turning his attention. Calmly, she asks, “What’s the difference between plot and narrative?”
It’s that moment, far beyond the reach of the opening credits, when I rolled my hands through my hair and understood the nuance behind “The Savages.”
The play, I’m sorry, film, revolves around the lives of brother and sister, Jon and Wendy Savage (Laura Linney). Their father, Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco), has been writing in shit on his walls, plagued with dementia, and has recently lost his girlfriend of 20 years. Estranged from one another, Jon and Wendy travel to Arizona to retrieve their father and to plan the next move.
That is the plot.
The narrative, this dark and steaming pile of leftover baggage, is better. Jon is a university professor who has been working t
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