The Descendants

It may have been eight years since Alexander Payne has made a film (his last was 2004's Sideways), but he hasn't lost his touch of quiet observation, his gift of dark humor, nor his ability to perfectly capture a man silently breaking down in the midst of a personal crisis. He displays all of this in The Descendants, which could easily qualify as his strongest film to date. It's certainly his most real, his wittiest, and probably his most heartbreaking. Much has been made of the lead performance by George Clooney, and while he certainly deserves all the praise and awards he has received so far, he is met every step of the way by a cast that is his equal. This is the rare film where there's hardly a weak link in the entire composition.

On the tropical island of Oahu, Matt King (Clooney) seems to have it all. Yes, he lives in a place that many people would consider to be a "paradise", but as he informs us, the people who live here have the same problems as everybody else on the mainland. And yet, it's obvious that there is a different attitude toward life on the island. Even the powerful businessmen come to work dressed in Hawaiian shirts and sandals. (As Matt observes in narration, "some of the most powerful people look like bums and stuntmen".) As for Matt himself, he owns 25,000 acres of untouched wilderness on the island of Kauai that has always been in his family legacy. Matt will soon be forced to sell this land to someone who wants to build a resort and residential area. Everybody on the island seems to be aware of this, and is awaiting Matt's decision.

While Matt is dealing with the legal and business issues that comes about from selling the land, he is struck with a personal problem at home - His free spirited wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), falls into a coma after she is involved in an accident on a speedboat. He is forced to put his business life aside, and focus his attention on his two daughters, 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller), and 17-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley). This is new territory for Matt, as he's pretty much devoted his life to business and making money. His wife always took care of the kids and their home. At first, he sits by his wife's bedside, hoping that she will wake up soon and life can return to normal. But then, the doctor brings up the fact that Elizabeth is likely not to improve, and according to her living will, they cannot keep her on life support. Now, Matt finds himself not only in the position of being a real father for the first time, but also in the difficult position of preparing his daughters, friends, and family (as well as himself) to say goodbye to his wife.

With a set up like that, The Descendants could have easily gone into tear-jerking melodrama territory, and probably still would have been successful. And yet, the film is even more successful due to the fact that Payne (who co-wrote the script, along with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash) keeps everything at a quiet, human level. There are surprisingly no big blow ups, not even when Matt learns from his eldest daughter that his wife was having an affair with another man, and was even thinking of leaving him prior to her accident. Instead of the blow up we expect, Matt seems hurt and confused. Yes, he realizes that he never had a lot of time to spend with his family, but were things really so bad that Elizabeth was planning to give it all up? The movie explores the fine line between grief and anger, and how people deal with it differently. Matt finds himself torn when he looks at his wife lying comatose and dying, now that he has the knowledge of how she really felt about him. Meanwhile, other people in the family, like Elizabeth's father (Robert Forster), blame Matt for everything, and believe if he had been there for her and his family, none of this would have happened.

The movie itself walks a lot of fine lines, as well. It can be powerful and sad (the scene where Elizabeth's father has his last visit with his dying daughter is positively heartbreaking, all without any dialogue whatsoever), and yet it also lets in some humor, whether it be from some sly observations about human nature, or some dark humor that inexplicably rises from some of the somber situations. This is not a depressing movie, despite its heavy story tones. It can be sad, but it's also uplifting, quite beautiful, and sometimes very surprising in how it expertly weaves humor into its situations. This is as tight a screenplay as I have encountered in quite a while. Not a single character or scene comes across as unnecessary. Even characters who initially seem to be placed strictly for comic relief (like the idiot boyfriend who hangs around Matt's teenage daughter) eventually reveal more layers and purpose than we initially expect.

And then there are the performances that accompany these memorable characters. Clooney is rock-solid as always, encompassing the complex emotions of his character with ease. But the real surprises here are the two youngest actors in the cast, playing his daughters. Newcomer Amara Miller (playing his youngest daughter) not only gets some of the film's biggest laughs, she does so in a way so that she seems natural, and not a "child actor" playing to the camera. She's also a wonderful little dramatic actress, as the scene where she learns that her mother is going to die is one of the more honest moments of grief I've seen from a child on the screen. As Clooney's troubled teenage daughter, Shailene Woodley has more acting experience (she's mainly worked on TV), and makes a very smooth transition to the big screen. She's very honest, and her scenes alone with Clooney show that she could grow into some very capable adult roles. Special notice must also go to Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer, who play a married couple that get wrapped into the central plot in a way I'll leave up to you to see how it happens, and the role they play.
The Descendants is a remarkable movie, and a top achievement by the very talented Alexander Payne. His years away from the camera have fortunately not reduced his talent in the slightest. If anything, this movie shows he has grown even more as both a director and a storyteller. He has made something poignant, powerful, and unforgettable. He's also made one of 2011's very best films.

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