If filmmaking was a marathon, then The Descendants would be the runner that tripped at the starting line. In a display of determination, it doesn’t let the twisted ankle stop it, getting up and running the race regardless. Hell it even manages to make good time. But still, you know it can never be a winner, because it was crippled from the very beginning.
The main character of The Descendants is Matt King (George Clooney) a lawyer and professional inheritor of vast riches. Far from a spoiled indolent however, the man is actually a thrifty workaholic, something which has driven a wedge between him and his family. This becomes a problem when his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) is knocked into a permanent coma, and he is left on his own to deal with his two daughters Alex (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara Miller). But the real meat of the story comes when Matt discovers his wife was having an affair. The film then studies the fallout of Elizabeth’s death on her family, while following Matt’s hunt to find the man who cuckolded him.
If I were to say where exactly The Descendants lies in the spectrum of film, I’d compare it to films like The Big Lebowski or Fear and Loathing. Admittedly it’s not at all as druggy or out-there as those two films. But it shares the sense that the plot feels like something of a sideshow, just a little something to provide the film with momentum. What sucks you into The Descendants is tone. The whole film is coddled in this warm, comfortable calmness, so that watching it feels like being snuggled into the depths of a particularly fluffy duvet.
And this is brilliant, because that comfortableness contrasts brilliantly with the emotional trauma the characters are going through. Their sorrow and pain is all the more apparent for the utter pleasantness of their cinematic world. As Matt’s opening narration says, just because Hawaii is a paradise, doesn’t mean hardship is non-existent.
Of course, manufacturing both the tone and the trauma takes a lot of skill, and there is quite a bit of that on display. Composer Christopher Young lays down a Hawaiian soundtrack that creates exactly the right mood. Meanwhile Director Alexander Payne displays a true gift for visuals, creating scenes that brim with emotion. But best of all is the acting.
Frankly, what we have here is a central cast of gifted actors playing at the very height of their game. Woodley is probably the biggest surprise. Hardly inexperienced at acting (she’s had a fairly long career in US television), this is nonetheless her first role on the big screen, and the fact that she compares favourably with a veteran like Clooney is some achievement. Speaking of Clooney, words fail me. The man wears emotions like clothes. It should be illegal for someone to be able to fake total devastation that well. But then, nothing but top-level acting could make a plot where a woman cheats on a person that looks like George Clooney believable. The man fully deserves his Best Actor Oscar nomination.
But you know what doesn’t deserve the nomination it got? The Descendants’ script, because it’s awful. So awful that it almost ruins the entire movie. Again and again, visuals, music and fantastic acting would snare my attention, and then BAM! The script would slap me round the face with problem after problem. The Descendant is bedevilled by corny dialogue, infuriatingly obvious expositional voice overs and clumsy plotting. In a film of otherwise such high level, such things are already inexcusable. But this is not the writing’s greatest sin.
See all these issues impact on most important aspect of the movie: the tone. The Descendants is a calm, quiet film. As such, the emotions it conveys need to be brought across in a calm, quiet manner. For the most part this is what happens, but now and again, in ways forced by the requirements of poorly considered dialogue, the film descends into screaming melodrama that looks and sounds utterly ridiculous.
Now this doesn’t stop the film from being good. All I said before about the great acting, the fantastic camerawork and the excellent music remains true. The Descendants has much to recommend it. If only the writing had been better, this film would have been truly great. As it is, it had a good run, but in the end, it’s still a loser.
Reviewer: Adam BrodieRating: 12A
DVD/Blu Ray Release Date: 21st May 2012 (UK)
Director: Alexander Payne
Cast: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley,Matthew Lillard,Judy Greer, Amara Miller
Buy The Descendants: Blu-ray (+ Digital Copy)
/ DVD (+ Digital Copy)
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