Tropical Traumas

The Descendants

Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Matthew Lillard, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges


Hawaiian Lawyer and Property mogul Matt King's (George Clooney) life is overturned when his wife, Elizabeth is critically injured in a boating accident. Distraught by the condition of his comatose wife, Matt can barely concentrate on an important property deal for which he is the sole trustee of his greater extended family. On top of this, he is in sole charge of taking care of his youngest daughter for the first time in his life, as he says himself, he was very much the 'back up parent'.

So the plot stands after the first 20 minutes or so, and thus far is no different from the many other soapy melodramas available for your viewing pleasure. However, after this introductory 20 minutes, the movie really steps up a gear and shows why Alexander Payne is such a well regarded screenwriter.

Anyone who has seen previous Payne penned films will know how good he is at crafting fully realised, flawed  and complex characters. A speciality, especially in his past few films has been creating older characters coming to key crossroads in their life, and realising that their system of values may have been slightly awry all this time. In About Schmidt Jack Nicholson played the titular character as a man utterly despondent at the course his life had taken, whereas in Sideways Paul Giamatti's wine snob Miles is consumed by bitterness and rage at the emptiness and failure of his life thus far.

Clooney's portrayal of King is almost the polar opposite of the wine soaked Miles. A man for whom success oozes out of every pore, King is the wealthiest and most successful member of his clan, and has worked hard to achieve this. His achievements have come at the expense of his relationships with his family, which he will spend the majority of the film trying to untangle. His focus on business is notable in an opening voice over in which he complains about how Hawaii is not like it seems in the movies, with people having the same problems as everywhere else. He goes so far as to note that he hasn't been on a surfboard in 15 years. This is a symptom of his disconnection with the lands of his forefathers, and his gradual awakening to the paradise around him is one of the major signposts of his personal growth. This is some of Clooney's finest work, burying his usual demeanour of smug certainty beneath the grief and anxiety that the twists of plot provide.

To focus too much on the performance and character of Clooney is almost criminal in a movie packed with such rounded characters and stunning performances. Every character has there own particular problems and flaws, and the actors do wonders with the meaty parts given them. Particularly notable are a pair of performances from Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer, of whom both are better known for comedic or lighter roles. Here they provide ample evidence of their dramatic chops in roles that are absolutely pivotal to the plot. Shailene Woodley is terrific as older daughter Alex, and indeed the movie only really comes alive when she enters the picture. She was terribly unlucky to miss out on an Oscar nomination for this breakthrough performance. Veteran actor Robert Forster has several small but key scenes as Elizabeth's grieving father, and is electric in them. I must also make a special mention of Nick Krause's ludicrously stereotypical spaced out beach bum, Sid. It is a mark of the quality of this film that even this character is shown to be deeper than he originally appears.

The backdrop to all of this is a Hawaii which is not the picture postcard island of countless surf and beach movies. Instead it is a Hawaii of a more rustic, primeval beauty. The choices made in cinematography show a lush island that makes one understand how it could be described as a paradise on earth.

All this sounds suitably superlative and yet... All the parts are there for a very satisfying film experience, and indeed it is highly entertaining. However, it never really takes off and becomes something that transcends its genre. Alexander Payne's screenplay is as terrific as always, but the direction is merely competent. The characters are well written and the actors are in top form, but which characters have really changed by the end, and by how much? Whilst a very well crafted and well acted drama, it lands somewhere above a TV disease of the week movie and below a truly amazing cinematic experience. Eminently watchable, but by no means compulsory.

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