(Will not be held accountable to adverse affects experienced from lusting after Hawaiin climate...)
The film marks also the return of Alexander Payne, last heard from with Sideways.
The film opens with a brief shot of a woman on what appears to be a jet ski, what is compelling about this scene is her expression, one marked be utter contentment. The fade to black is ominous. We soon learn that that woman was Elizabeth King, now in a coma, a wife to successful and frugal lawyer Matt King, who is diligently working by her hospital bed in the establishing shot where he narratives a brief summary of life and up to there.
The coma acts as a catalyst which through Matt's otherwise comfortably uneventful life is thrown into disarray where he must acknowledge things and take action. He is forced to commit to parenting for the first time in his life, referring to himself as the back-up parent. His unruly seventeen year old Alexandra, played by the unexpectedly sublime Shailene Woodley, and petulant Scottie are independent forces to be reckoned with.
He learns his wife was cheating on him and planning to leave him. While this sets things in motion for the journey of the film, the trailer makes it seem like this is what the film centers on. Wrong.
Matt's entire journey seems to be summed up in the allegory of the land. He is the named trustee to a large acreage of land, and he and his cousins are in the process of figuring out who to sell the land to.
Because the subplot of land, (woah careful now, I am making this sound like a sequel to The Field) Hawaii predictably becomes a character in and of itself in the film. It clearly has a profound effect in rebuilding the relationship between Matt and his daughters, and helping them through their grief and anger experienced in the aftermath of their mother's accident.
This would be my only gripe about the film. Its predictability. It does not shy away from cliche or sentiment, which is probably a result of the source material, the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings. While it is far from a run of the mill chick flick, there is almost a paint-by-numbers characters progression but this has thankfully been peppered with enough Alexander Payne flair to rescue it and brings it to life.
It's a genuinely funny piece. It combines many levels of humour without going overboard, we get a little bit of physical comedy, thanks to out of shape Matt's jog in flip flops down a spiraling Hawaiian suburban hill. There's a little bit of stoner exploitation, courtesy of Sid, (Nick Krausse), Alexandra's inexplicably present boyfriend. The caper quality, perhaps a nod to Clooney's Ocean Series, bestows the film with an adventurousness that involves the audience, giving a emotional connection. You will root for this family as they scour the beaches in search of the adulterous mother's partner. Also the Hawaiian uniform provides a good ole laugh, probably unintentional.
Clooney is obviously promoted as the face of the movie as he's a big box office draw, but the way each character is drawn in this story is genius. Each character is given such dimension. Even Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), the man whom Matt's wife was in love with, is likable because his vulnerability is shown. So even though the movie itself delves into cliche, the characterizations and actual performances strengthen any weaknesses.
Even though I was hyper aware of the cliche, blame my English course in film for making me so judgmental, the film still manipulated an emotional response out of me. Because what is shown in The Descendants is truth in many ways. It does not dwell on the "why me"s, but simply shows these people dealing with everyday life even though their world has utterly changed.
Cliche is cliche for a reason, even though we think we are all individual, we all invariably go through similar experiences of pain, beauty, happiness, and grief. The Descendants is actually a very refreshing take on that, not unearthing shattering, but thank Hawaii. And Alexander Payne.
