Susan Granger’s review of “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
There are several weeks before the end of the year but – so far – this intelligently written, beautifully photographed, intensely emotional family drama is among the best of 2011. Simultaneously heartbreaking and life-affirming, it’s an absurdist, funny and voraciously smart journey of self-discovery, which has been the underlying theme of Alexander Payne’s previous films: “Sideways,” “About Schmidt,” “Election” and “Citizen Ruth.”
Tracing lineage back through missionaries to Hawaiian ruler Kamehameha, wealthy Matt King (George Clooney) is a workaholic lawyer who’s suddenly thrust into caring for his rebellious daughters – 17 year-old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and 10 year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) – after his thrill-seeking wife, Elizabeth (Pattie Hastie), has a water-skiing accident off Waikiki and lies, unresponsive, in a coma. In the midst of this crisis, Matt must decide how to dispose of a scenic 25,000-acre plot of extremely valuable, undeveloped land on Kauai that’s been held in a family trust. And then angst-filled Alexandra informs him that, several weeks earlier, she saw her mother with another man, a realtor named Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard).
Based on a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, the compelling screenplay by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash is painful, provocative and filled with subtle satire, and Payne’s direction elicits superbly controlled turns from each of his actors. Placing him firmly in line for an Oscar nomination, George Clooney’s masterful acting depends not on large effects but on a slow, subtle accumulation of precisely observed details. Clooney never strikes a false note in a highly combustible mixture of emotions, involving guilt, anger, frustration, betrayal and bereavement, while teenage Shailene Woodley (TV’s “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”) is astonishing. Additional supporting turns from Robert Forster, Nick Krausen, Beau Bridges and Judy Greer are superb, along with Phedon Papamichael’s photography and the authentic ukulele music. Only the uneven pacing leaves something to be desired.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Descendants” is an extraordinary 9, balancing tough truth with compassionate understanding of what it means to love, to forgive and to be a family.
