Savage Night

Over the weekend my wife and I finally got a chance to check out Film Streams, Omaha’s great new art house downtown, where we saw The Savages, written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, co-produced by Omaha favorite-son Alexander Payne. Now, in some ways, this film is typical of its type (type = purposefully drab-looking indie feature in which over-educated, depressed people confront their drab-looking lives). A part of me was in the mood to go see Cloverfield instead. But we both loved this movie. Jenkins tells a specific story with grace, genuine humor, and poignancy, and if you told me there were better film actors than Laura  Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, I would call you a liar. But I’m not a professional film critic.