We usually run when we see a film described as a family drama. More often than not those two words result in movies dripping in sentimentality and clichés. Fortunately, The Descendants doesn’t fall into that saccharine camp. Instead, we get a movie that is funny and tender, tragic and heart-warming.
Much of the credit must go to the director Alexander Payne, the man behind runaway indie hit Sideways, but whereas we found that film slightly smug and (to be honest) a little dull, this latest offering is sensitive and intelligent.
George Clooney plays lawyer and landowner Matt King, who finds his paradise life on Hawaii turned upside down after his wife is seriously hurt in a speedboat accident. While she lies in a coma in the hospital, he must try and pick up the pieces of his fractured family and try to reconnect with his two daughters. While he struggles to deal with the feisty Sonnie (Amara Miller) and wayward teen Alex (Shailene Woodley) and reach conclusion on a major land deal that will make his family rich for life, he receives the further blow of discovering that his wife has been cheating on him.
The film succeeds because Payne, who also wrote the screenplay from the novel of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings, makes us care how the King family deal with this tragedy. Yes, there are plenty of poignant moments, but there’s also plenty of gentle humor to ensure we never wallow too deeply.
Clooney puts in a delightfully understated turn, as a man whose life has somehow slipped out of control. A fragile and slightly flawed guy with a goofy, vulnerable edge (his jogging is hilarious) that’s just struggling to do the right thing. He’s ably supported by a strong cast; Miller and Woodley put in mature performances, Nick Krause, as Alex’s friend Sid, offers some lighter moments, while Robert Forster is both wonderfully cantankerous and genuinely moving as King’s father-in-law.
It all comes together to create a film that is refreshingly mature and intelligent—one that offers real heart, soul and depth instead of the usual stereotypes and shtick.
