Starring: George Clooney, Shaileen Woodley, and Amara Miller
Directed by: Alexander Payne
Written by: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash
Released: December 2011
Genre: Drama
Synopsis:
Set in Hawaii, a naive husband and father of two girls struggles with his unraveling life which is confronted with family tragedy, and a difficult legacy land-deal decision. Hawaiian land baron, and lawyer, Matt King takes his daughters on a trip from Oahu to
Kauai to face the young real estate broker, who was having an
affair with his wife Elizabeth before her misfortune.
Trailer
The Descendants follows the heart wrenching journey of Matt Kings's (George Clooney's ) last visits to his wife, Elizabeth King (Patricia Hastie) who is on life support following a boating accident. When he learns of her certain death, his life falls into a tailspin. While barely coping with parental duties for his two daughters, he is saddled with also having to decide the fate of a multi-acre family land inheritance decision which threatens to commercialize pristine land in Kauai. He is pressured by family to proceed with the sale of the land rather than keep it, as millions of dollars of profit are at stake for family members. Matt, gains our support early via his charm, humour, awkward fatherly advice sessions, and spiraling emotional turmoil. He ponders his predicaments with a tender honesty, particularly interacting with eldest daughter Alex, (Shaileene Woodley).
As a teenager grappling with her shaded past, Alex boasts a turbulent attitude, and jaded, unresolved issues surrounding her mother's situation. The story takes a dramatic turn when she reveals to her Dad, that Mom, Elizabeth, had been having an affair prior to her accident.
Matt is shocked, and sprints to a family friends' house, where he is
determined to coax the identity of his wife's love interest.
Alex's goofy boyfriend, Sid, (Robert Forster), often by her side, seems to maintain a calmness for her, and offers a sense of peace, and comic relief for her. Younger sister Scottie, (Amanda Miller) is blunt, whimsical but certainly not naive.
The story highlights heavy, dramatic situations, and if not for the comical injections welcomed at the appropriate segments, the entire film would leave the audience feeling unbearably sad. Overall it is not a happy film, rather it is a journey of self-realization, and family discovery. The superb portrayals of a frustrated seventeen year old, and worn out lawyer Dad who have both lost their
way, are no doubt compelling, each well-deserving of Oscar consideration. The film's director and writer, Alexander Payne shines at delivering the story of the daunting task of a husband's quest to locate and confront his wife's "other man." Matt and Alex endure a difficult, yet real Father-Daughter progression while striving to cope with an impossible situation of events, and discover what they mean to each other along the way.
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