Review #332: 'The Descendants' (2011)

Hawaiian-based lawyer Matt King (George Clooney) is on the verge of brokering the sale of 25,000 acres of land which will make him and his extended family millionaires, when his wife is placed into a coma following a boating accident. Learning that she will never wake up, and that because of her will, the doctors will soon turn off the life support, Matt tries to re-connect with his two daughters, 17 year old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and 10 year old Scottie (Amara Miller). Scottie is in trouble at school for making inappropriate art and picking on fellow students, and Alexandra has problems with drinking. Matt also learns from Alexandra that his wife was having an affair with an estate agent named Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), so they all travel to Kaua'i to confront him.

Director Alexander Payne's previous films have all focused on deeply flawed yet entirely real human beings, and The Descendants is no exception. His 2004 masterpiece Sideways, one of the finest comedy-dramas of its decade, focused on a depressive, bitter writer and his adulterous friend on their stag holiday. These were quite despicable characters, yet thanks to a smart script, brilliant performances, and some genuine humanity, you became invested in them almost instantly. Clooney's Matt is hardly as unlikeable as that, but he is a man who has all but neglected his family for years, and one that holds the cards to a land sale that could see one of the state's most beautiful and natural location turned into a tourist hotspot.

This is ultimately a story of re-discovery. Matt comes from a line of mixed white and Hawaiian descendants, and is constantly locked in a battle with himself over the sale of the land. He and his cousins plan to sell to a Hawaiian native, but the land is a vast area of beauty that he used to enjoy with his wife and children, and so by selling it, he will be ultimately selling himself out. Hawaii is key to the plot. Usually portrayed as a place of beauty and serenity, Payne breaks this trend in the first few scenes where he shows us the homeless shacked up on the beach, and the urban areas blowing with dirt and litter. It is also volcanic, and Payne shoots it with as many blues and greys as there are oranges and yellows. It is thought of as paradise, but as Matt tells us in the opening narration, "paradise can go fuck itself."

Clooney gives possibly the best performance of his career here. He has no beard to alter his appearance like his Oscar-winning turn in Syriana (2005), here he is laid bare, and gives his most emotionally naked performance. He has truly come a long way since Batman & Robin (1997) almost single-handedly destroyed his career before it started, and I wouldn't be surprised if his name is called for Best Actor in the upcoming  Academy Awards. Woodley is also impressive, quickly evolving from a generic bratty teenager into a mature confidant to her father.

The Descendants has been advertised and portrayed as a comedy-drama, and although their is some fine comic moments in the film, usually stemming from Nick Krause's surfer-dude Sid's inappropriate comments, the film is ultimately an emotional drama. This led to frustrated shufflings in the cinema by people expecting either a generic rom-com or a full-blown comedy, and caused one very annoying fat idiot behind me repeatedly yawning. It is about 15 minutes too long, and lingers too much on the rather predictable and un-involving sub-plot about the land sale, but The Descendants is powerfully written and often very moving, and is a fine example of how Alexander Payne is the finest storyteller of real human beings working today.


Directed by: Alexander Payne
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Robert Forster
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie