The Descendants

★★★★

(2012)

It seems like the only smiling face in Alexander Payne’s latest film is over and done with in the opening 15 second shot. A woman on a jet ski whipping through the waves somewhere in Hawaii. In the next shot that woman is in a coma and beside her bed sits a pensive husband.

Matt King (A fantastic George Clooney) explains his predicament in a calming laconic voice over. Lawyer and father of two daughters, both far more formidable than himself, has a fair bit on his plate aside from his comatose wife. A deal which will see him and his family sell off vast and beautiful family land is threatening his days and now, alone with his two daughters a late teen rebel named Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and very confused 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller), he must rearrange his life to prepare for something we all dread.

Also the fact that Alexandra has let it slip that her mother has been having an affair with a local real estate agent isn’t really doing anything to help Matt Find his marbles at a time like this. Thus, Payne puts Clooney at the center of another bumpy low key study of older men coming to terms with themselves.

The Oscar nominated Clooney certainly holds up, his big face showing weight and age surprisingly well, and Miller and Woodley are wonderful as his daughters who both control their father and reason with him in more adult ways than most of the adults in the film. The script is a little cliched in parts, especially in the voice over but the cast are wonderful to watch and as a drama it is excellently constructed.

Fortunately, though it is less funny than Sideways, less caustic than Election and without the emotional impact of About Schmidt it is in no way a lesser film. The Descendants seems like something of a center piece for Payne, it manages to employ and balance all of his skills of pace and nuances of character and although it is a deeply sad film the ending somehow strives to be full of grace and hope and yeah, it almost pulls it off.