 Returning to independent films in 2007 , Hoffman began with a starring role in Tamara Jenkins 's The Savages , where he and Laura Linney played siblings responsible for putting their dementia @-@ ridden father ( Philip Bosco ) in a care home . Jake Coyle of the Associated Press stated that it was " the epitome of a Hoffman film : a mix of comedy and tragedy told with subtlety , bone @-@ dry humor and flashes of grace " . Hoffman next received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Before the Devil Knows You 're Dead , the final film by veteran director Sidney Lumet , where he played a realtor who embezzles funds from his employer to support his drug habit . Mosher comments that the character was one of the most unpleasant of Hoffman 's career , but that his " fearlessness again revealed the humanity within a deeply flawed character " as he appeared naked in the opening anal sex scene . The film was viewed positively by critics as a powerful and affecting thriller . 
