Opening your home to others can create a sense of trust and strengthen or forge long-term relationships, but it doesn’t always work out that way. People may have a certain way of acting when they’re in the privacy of their own space that doesn’t gel with existing habits or practices, and throwaway comments may be made that can be received in an offensive manner. There are levels to which those living in close proximity to one another choose to approach their discomfort, with The Saviors representing an extreme reaction that can be interpreted as casually invasive at best and wholly inappropriate at worst.
Sean (Adam Scott) and Kim (Danielle Deadwyler) aren’t doing well as a couple, but they’re still living together and about to get some new housemates in the form of Amir (Theo Rossi) and Jahan (Nazanin Boniadi), a brother and sister from Seattle who are staying in their guest house for a week. Sean is almost immediately suspicious and begins obsessively watching them, concerned that they are planning some sort of attack. Kim isn’t convinced, but Sean gets validation from his right-wing sister Cleo (Kate Berlant), who hires a nutty private investigator, Jim Clemente (Greg Kinnear), to probe just who they are and what their true purpose is for being in town.
It’s hard to categorize The Saviors, which sometimes feels like multiple different movies stitched together and competing for audience attention. Scott was initially best known for his comedy work in Parks & Recreation and Deadwyler has just started a TV comedy gig on Rooster, so their timing and ability to mine dry humor from otherwise serious moments does help to produce a number of laughs in this uncomfortable film. But there’s a much more dramatic and frightening undercurrent to this film, with Sean frequently having nightmares where he cuts his leg walking downstairs and opens the door to a post-apocalyptic scene, in addition to a number of faux jump scares designed to trick the audience into thinking there’s something worth being startled over when in fact it’s something innocuous.
Not knowing what to make of this film isn’t entirely an advantage since it does come off as disjointed and incomplete. Its final resolution is undeniably interesting but not fulfilling since it leaves it for audiences to contemplate rather than process as part of the story playing out. There are many more questions than answers, which isn’t necessarily a demerit but proves frustrating given that all four of these protagonists are genuinely interesting, but the two who are even more intriguing don’t get much chance to speak for themselves, seen only through the eyes of their hosts.
Boniadi, an excellent actress from projects like Counterpart and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, doesn’t get the chance to speak at all, which itself remains an unsolved mystery since her character is apparently deaf but the circumstances under which that happened are never fully confirmed. Rossi, best known for Sons of Anarchy, doesn’t say that much more, and everything he does utter seems to deliberately have multiple meanings to perplex and torment his hosts. Deadwyler and Scott are a solid pair, bringing a fitting degree of uncertainty to their performances that, coupled with their already fractured marriage, makes for some deeply awkward moments, some of which are funny because of how they respond and share their sentiments with each other.
The Saviors succeeds in building tension and crafting a very specific kind of dark thriller interrupted by comedic moments, and it’s always careful not to reveal its entire hand. Audiences never know until the very end who they should be rooting for or against, which is the idea, but it also suggests that perhaps there’s more they’d like to know which could have been shown in the film itself rather than exist merely as possible scenarios within their minds after the credits roll. Its ending is meant to jolt audiences and keep them thinking, which definitely has a haunting and lingering effect, but not an entirely positive one.
Movie Rating: 6/10
