Film Review: The Descendants

The Descendants. Rated M (mature themes and coarse language). 115 minutes. Directed by Alexander Payne. Screenplay by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings.

One of the many complications that attend an actor’s celebrity status (in this case, George Clooney), is that the relentless torrents of salacious gossip and innuendo about their private lives can often overwhelm – or at the very least distract from – the work they attempt for the sake of their craft.

And so it is with the powerful, intricate and involving contemporary family drama in which Mr Clooney’s Matt King is struggling with a considerable number of responsibilities; his two recalcitrant young daughters (Alexandra and Scottie), his being named the sole trustee of his ancestor’s spectacular, pristine beachfront land, and the fact that his wife Elizabeth lies in a coma (the result of a boating accident) from which she unlikely to recover.

It is rich dramatic fodder, and Mr Payne (Sideways) expertly guides his outstanding ensemble through the emotionally-charged and conflicted minefield. Shailene Woodley acts everyone else off the screen as the eldest daughter Alexandra – managing to deliver a perfectly pitched performance as a girl on the cusp of adulthood who is beginning to accept her share of responsibility for whatever the future may hold. Amara Miller makes a superb debut as the youngest daughter Scottie – delivering her engaging young character’s vulnerability, fear and individuality with rare insight and precision.

Mary Birdsong and Rob Huebel provide brief, but expert, support as Matt and Elizabeth’s conflicted friends Kai and Mark – with the scene in which Matt confronts them in their home about Elizabeth’s apparent infidelity, the dramatic highpoint.

The fine threads of black comedy are a welcome relief from all the bleak, intense and introspective drama, but it is ultimately Patricia Hastie’s haunting and wordless performance as the comatose Elizabeth that serves to remind us that we are all equally responsible for the messes we risk leaving behind.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.