The Descendants – review

George Clooney and Shailene Woodley

Nuanced: George Clooney and Shailene Woodley in the Descendants

It has been seven years since Alexander Payne last donned his directorial hat for a major motion picture, namely the offbeat and existential yarn, Sideways. Payne received an Oscar for Sideways (it took home the gong for Best Adapted Screenplay) and seven years on, he has struck the right chord again with The Descendants, which is currently awash with awards and nominations.

If the film is going to spoil Oscar night for The Artist and turn Jean Dujardin’s expressive eyebrows into a frown, then it is likely to be in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role category. The Descendants is certainly a moving and often amusing movie, but it is George Clooney who elevates it to award-winning level.

This has been described as a role that Clooney was ‘born to play’, in which he delivers a ‘career-best’ performance. Suave quick-wittedness, tinged with quirky intensity, is the blueprint for what has made the 50-year-old one of the most consistently watchable actors in Hollywood and he has taken it all down a notch to serve up a world-weary version in his character Matt King, whose charm, energy and humour have been eroded by the life’s pressures.

We are introduced to Honolulu lawyer Matt as the sole trustee of a multi-million dollar plot of land – passed down by many generations linking back to an indigenous Hawaiian lady – the sale of which is up for tender and under-discussion amongst many family members, after long-running negotiations. However, the father-of-two is suffering huge emotional drain with his wife in coma after a speedboat accident and the backseat father is struggling to get to grips with the responsibility of looking after his two daughters; 10-year old Scottie (Amara Miller) and typically-troublesome teenager Alex (Shailene Woodley).

Aside from the obvious trauma involving the kids’ mother, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), the main premise of the film explores the notion that having assets, money and living in an idyllic setting does not directly equate to happiness. Life’s cruel afflictions and family matters can make or break an individual’s contentment in the blink of an eye.

It is implied that, before the accident, Elizabeth and Matt have drifted apart and pulled in different directions: her as the thrill-seeking woman with a lust for life and him with his head in his work and land renovation proposals, letting the Hawaiian paradise pass him by.

Coinciding with his wife’s condition reaching a sadly hopeless state, Matt finds out that she had been having an affair and the story accelerates as Matt’s eyes are finally open and the bigger picture becomes clearer to him, in regard to his kids, the condition of his pre-accident marriage and the land he is on the verge of selling. A mission to track down the man who had been sleeping with his wife ensues, giving him a purpose amidst the hopelessness and an anger-fuelled distraction from the sadness of his predicament.

With his two newly-supportive daughters and the elder’s bluntly-honest stoner friend, Sid (Nick Krause), in tow, the mission in not just a journey toward the painful truth of the affair and the man at the heart of it, but an awakening for Matt and a route to re-engaging with his daughters and finding contentment beyond the imminent grief.

Maybe the fact the Clooney does not have kids has helped the convincing awkwardness of his hapless, but quick-learning father character, but he nails it with subtle expressions, pauses and evocation of desperation. Woodley also deserves a mention for her emotive role portraying the temperamental older daughter, revelling in the new-found bond with her forlorn father.

The Descendants is an understated and perceptive piece of filmmaking, focusing the lens on the how people deal with events thrust upon them, rather than the events themselves, and demonstrating how quickly priorities change.

The Descendants (15)
Directed by Alexander Payne
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Robert Forster, Amara Miller, Nick Crause, Patricia Hastie.
Running time: 115 minutes

The Descendants is showing at the Rio Cinema until Thursday 9 February and across London throughout February.