The Real Thing

Seldom do all the elements in a film come together as beautifully as they do in Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages, starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a brother and sister who have to put their estranged, increasingly demented father in a nursing home. Everything in this movie works: impeccable acting, cinematography, music, and screenwriting so real and affecting that during certain scenes I was literally on the edge of my seat — not in suspense but sheer awe. This one is the real thing — don’t miss it.