“We’re not in a Sam Shepard play,” one of the squabbling siblings of The Savages says to the other as they try to deal with their aging father’s failing health. But they are in an indie movie. This means The Savages will intellectually and ironically dissect the ways family members hurt each other. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman have a weary affection as the grown sister and brother who must suddenly care for their estranged dad (Philip Bosco), while writer-director Tamara Jenkins lets some wit and even a flicker of hope into the film. She manages to allow the movie its real-life bitterness without pushing it over into despair.
