Movie Review: ‘The Descendants’

The Descendants is set in picture postcard vistas of Hawaii, which director Alexander Payne (initially) subverts with a dull palette and all-too-vivid sense of coldness.
Movie Review: ‘The Descendants’
George Clooney as Matt King and Shailene Woodley as daughter Alexandra, in Alexander Payne’s ‘The Descendants’. (20th Century Fox)
1/29/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img class="size-large wp-image-1792620" title="ENT_descendants1" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/ENT_descendants1.jpg" alt="George Clooney as Matt King and Shailene Woodley as daughter Alexandra, in Alexander Payne's 'The Descendants'" width="590" height="393"/></a>
George Clooney as Matt King and Shailene Woodley as daughter Alexandra, in Alexander Payne's 'The Descendants'

Half a decade since his last examination of fallible humanity with the critically lauded wine-tasting dramedy Sideways, director Alexander Payne portrays the tumultuous inner conflicts of a struggling patriarch.

The Descendants is set in the picture postcard vistas of Hawaii, which Payne (initially) brilliantly subverts with a dull palette and all-too-vivid sense of coldness. George Clooney is Matt King, a suitable moniker for a man who spends most of his time at the office, and also has the all important vote in a land owning issue that balances his family heritage against the prospect of becoming a multimillionaire.

These issues fade into insignificance when his wife is critically injured in a motor boating accident, and he is forced to guide his daughters through to the inevitable tragedy of turning off her life support machine. It’s a situation made all the more difficult by the precociousness of his brood – in particular the eldest, Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), a level-headed but opinionated young thing – and a heartbreaking discovery that could prove to be the familial wake-up call that King needs. 

The potential for syrupy wholesomeness is evident in that synopsis, but clearly expelled by the world-weary cynicism that accompanies Payne’s narratives. As well as the aforementioned mise-en-scene of the usually sun-kissed setting, very little aboutThe Descendants feels forced; it’s a movie that aches to be real. 

Likewise Clooney gives a quiet, transparent turn, depicting a man happy to disappear into the background of life, suddenly forced to confront the effects of his passive nature. The scene in which he vents to his ventilated wife is understated, awkward, and more importantly, natural. You’re almost embarrassed to look on. 

The major surprise is that his isn’t the best performance in the movie. That accolade must go to Shailene Woodley. Perhaps the most mature member of the King family, hers is the more emotionally resonant arc of any of the characters thanks to her fractious relationship with her father, and more immediately, her mother. Woodley makes Alexandra an easy character to like. Her foibles are inherent to being a teenager, like drinking, cussing, and hanging out with boys – in particular, Sid, a surf dude with no sensitivity filter with whom some of the best scenes are played out. She is clearly the vessel on which the audience must project their feelings about the family’s shortcomings.

Payne’s uniqueness as a director has never been visual; it’s more the poetic tone of his movies. The resulting effect with The Descendants is half lingering tourist board video, half delicately tender human drama. They compliment each other perfectly, with the extended location interludes giving the feel of the audience prying into the most intimate of moments. 

This is low key, highly emotive film-making that successfully errs on the right side of melodrama. Thanks to a great director/acting combination it is never allowed to descend into the kind of clichéd soap opera that this kind of material often results in. 

[etRating value=“ 4”]