merelyaninnuendo The DescendantsEven though the premise floats on intense tone and serious family drama, the quality that attracts the viewers is the hint of a comic personality in each and every character that comes out of them even in such circumstances. The Descendants is one of those rare films that totally resonates with reality and practicality of it and still endures the dramatic side of it with genuine emotions, pragmatic characters and unpredictable script. Alexander Payne is completely aware of the world he is projecting onto the screen and uses it in a perfect way to connect the audience and offer enough content to feed them for around 2 hours. And as far as performance is concerned, George Clooney is at its best, as a disturbed and often surprisingly funny guy in a tragic stage of his life; he is carrying the whole movie on his shoulder. The Descendants is a movie that allows audience to rethink about it and keeps them on hold by unfolding the plot on each phase in a perfect way possible.

sharky_55 Payne's pathetic leading men tell the stories of backstage stars, the forgotten roles, the lives outside of the limelight. They're visibly and mentally past their prime, although they're not always happy to admit the fact. How does Clooney's Matt King fit in with this echelon of middle-aged men yet to come of age? He's too good looking, for one. Did I say leading men? Payne's muses are more like character actors that aspire to be leads; the sidekick from Sideways is actually a former heart-throb gone to seed, who relies on the odd woman to notice his fading good looks and small claim to fame. Clooney, on the other hand, has only ripened with age, still the gold standard for a Hollywood sex symbol. He might not be up to it physically (and the film makes light of this in a painful jog slash speedwalk), but in spite of his opening monologue (which should be laced with bitterness but ends up more satisfied), Matt King seems to have it all. Why have the monologue, anyway? Payne's always been a great director of actors, and although the technique's been used to good effect before (Nicholson's entire series of letters in About Schmidt is a revelation in slow growing humility), these men have always told more through body language and action. I guess Clooney doesn't have the same gravitas of a Nicholson or a Giamatti, who channel their mid or late life crisis through physical decay and a panicked realisation at what they haven't achieved. Clooney may run funny, but he's too casually dashing to convincingly portray someone at odds with his entire family, much less someone work obsessed and liable to be cheated on. His persona made much more sense in Up in the Air, an incentive-driven, one man crusade set to disprove the 'no man is an island' mantra, so focused on a single number he eventually begins to doubt himself. In many ways The Descendants is Payne's weakest film to date, a clunky mishmash of Payne's better marks, like the sharp edge of a comic satire in Election, and the dissection of red-faced protagonists who splutter and stumble their way to an eventual understanding of their flaws and features. There's so much secondhand embarrassment in the desperate appeals of his earlier characters for lost glory; their lives are mishap after mishap, and after a while they're not sure whether to laugh or collapse into a miserable heap. The Descendants, by contrast, seems rather embarrassed of these characters' downfalls, not content to allow scenes to simply wallow in their melancholy. It's dripping in bathos; almost every moment of sentimentality has to be livened or 'saved' by comic relief. The most annoying intrusion is Sid, the inappropriately-stoned boyfriend walking straight out of a raunchy comedy, with the tact of a whooping megaphone. When Judy Greer forgives Elizabeth in a tearful eulogy near the end, Matt is visibly embarrassed by this show of emotion; he's the deceased's husband and yet hasn't cried this much over the whole affair. But his quick move to usher the hysterical woman out of the hospital room is flippant enough that the moment is more comedic than introspective. Payne doesn't hang Matt out to dry as much as his other protagonists, perhaps because his unique situation is an ethical dilemma for the ages. The entire movie is a painful journey for closure that may never be found; how exactly do you extract answers from a soon-to-be corpse, much less hurl angry abuse that will forever fall on deaf ears? Matt finds strength in having to replace Elizabeth's role as the available parent, and in his journey goes from someone whose dialogue is written like a babysitter's, to someone who finally finds common ground with his family and heritage. How it all goes down is a little hokey - that precious, delicate ceremony where they spread her ashes at sea - but then Payne finishes with one of the most startlingly realised endings of his oeuvre, depicting a family that hasn't quite gotten over what they've been through, but has survived and will continue to do so together.

kitfitzgerald In the film's opening dialogue Matt's off-scene voice over explains that while most observers would think that he is living the charmed life in paradise. But as he states nothing could be further from the truth. In fact it is this dissonance between illusion and reality that is the real thematic pivot for the film. Matt and his wife Elizabeth have been experiencing marital difficulties for some time. Elizabeth has been involved in a speedboat accident which has left her in a vegetative coma. This situation is further compounded by her doctor's admission that they have done all for her and there is no hope for a recovery. Elizabeth's completion of an advanced health directive to be enforced in such a situation forces Matt to address the approaching decision to turn off her life support. As if this wasn't enough, Mark is facing a major decision regarding his other role as the sole trustee for a vast stretch of natural land on Kauai. His enormous number of cousins and relations are hungry for him to sign off on a land sale offer for future development as a mega condominium and they all want their share of the monitory rewards a deal would bring each one of them. Mark's eldest daughter Alexandra has been sent to the big island in the hope of curbing her excessive destructive behaviour. But as we discover, there was a compelling reason for her teenage angst. She tells her father that his wife was carrying on an affair with a local real estate agent Bob Speer. Matt is completely blindsided with this dramatic revelation. Even his close mutual friends seem to have actively supported his wife's extramarital activities. They also inform him that his wife was seriously contemplating divorcing Matt. Again Mark sees the dissonance between his assumptions and the underlying realities of his life and the relationships with family. His grief and rage at the duplicity of his wife, her lover and the mutual friends that openly supported her infidelity is heartfelt and realistically portrayed. He is surely a man caught between several rocks and hard places. This is truly an affirmation that "Shit Happens!" There are several themes that are hinted at during Matt's attempt to understand and respond to his wife's betrayal. It is revealed that Elizabeth's lover, Bob Speer would be one of the major beneficiaries if the land sale went ahead, and suggests that there might have been strong motives for the realtor to get inside information on the land deal through his tapping Matt's wife. To Elizabeth's bereft parents, she was their princess who could do no wrong, and that her medical situation was somehow exacerbated by Matt's treatment of her. Interestingly, while armed with clearly supported ammunition of her infidelity, Matt decides not to inform her parents of the truth. Thus out of kindness, Matt allows her parents to cling to their illusions concerning their daughter. The performances of the major players are very strong. As a follower of George Clooney's movie career for some time I was blown away be the sheer spectrum of emotional states he was able to bring to his character Matt. I would even go out on a limb and suggest that this was truly one of his best performances to date. The actresses playing his two daughters were also excellent. Initially expecting his eldest daughter to be a complete out of control brat, we discover that her actions have been motivated by her mother's destructive actions and her need to prevent hurting her father and exploding the family. Scottie, Matt's youngest daughter's gradual acceptance of her mother's encroaching demise through the help of a counsellor was particularly well-handled. Bob Speer was found to be the shallow opportunist one expected him to be, more interested in saving his marriage than owning up to his weaknesses. Matt's money- focused cousin played by Jeff Bridges was a perfect counterweight to Matt's increasing misgivings about signing the deal. I think a neglected player in this drama was the character of Sid, the friend of Matt's eldest daughter. Again this is yet another example of illusion verses reality. We along with Matt are quick to judge a book by its cover – that Sid is a somewhat simple, narly dude with little of any insight or substance. But as the two men interact, we along with Matt discover that our initial prejudices concerning Sid were perhaps ill-founded, and that he is a much more complex personality with his own experiences with the crap that real life throws at people. Yes, the film does explore the theme of family dysfunction as well as re-connection between father and daughters. But for me it is far more complex exploration of deeper underlying themes that plague individuals such as their relationships, the challenges confronting them through discovery of deception and concealment. It is about balancing the ties of family generations with the legacy of the past. It is also a film about experiencing grief in losing people you love and the need to accept letting them go. I openly admit to a pair of damp eyes especially during the poignant hospital scenes. It is a situation that I was faced with several years ago with my own wife. Good films are like any other form of art. Some films predominantly focus on eliciting feelings in the viewer. Other films may attempt to initiate thinking. Yet other films are able to attain the ability to force viewers to feel, think and question ourselves and our own values and moral positions. In a deceptively understated manner with an excellent transposing of Kaui Hart Hemmings' original written novel to the big screen, The Descendants would have to be one movie that has achieved ticking all the crucial boxes for me anyway. As it stands it is what it is; a gem.

Nik Rawlins So George Clooney plays a husband who hasn't paid attention to his family in years, so far that he states he hasn't taken care of his own daughter alone since she was 3. Of course he sees the errors of his ways only after his wife is in a terrible accident and ends up in a coma, from which she is not going to wake up.But then, surprise, he finds out she had a lover and man, why would she do that? I mean he has been an absent, distant, constantly working partner, how dare his wife find someone else who pays attention to her! (btw, sarcasm) Now his quest becomes to find this man, I mean he could take care of his children, figure out how to be a father, say goodbye to his wife, but no, he is gonna find his wife's lover. There is also a bit of plot about a land selling deal and George Clooney's character standing up to his family (cousins?) and not selling, the land, i don't know why that was in there.Also Scotty: was he supposed to the comedic relief? Was he supposed to be funny? Why is he there?