The Descendants Starring George Clooney

Written by Jonathan Jacobs

Life is never uncomplicated. Every moment of every day new scenarios arise and unexpected wrinkles add challenges to our existences. Philosophers will teach us that how we handle adversity means everything. What does not maim us will strengthen our willpower and resolve. One can only survive to old age through toughness and with a deep well of strength to rely on. Thematically this brings us to The Descendants, an Alexander Payne film, starring the eminent George Clooney. Clooney has become the industry emblem for greatness. The entire film has been filmed on the Hawaiian Islands but the stars are mostly Caucasian, a contrast that creates an immediate impression. Clooney is surrounded with some newcomers and with many great performers. The questions this review endeavors to address if not answer is, "Does The Descendants deserve to be in the hunt for the Best Picture Oscar Award, and if so, why?"

Matt King is an attorney, husband, and a father of two wonderful (a subjective label) young daughters. His life is turned upside down when his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) suffers a coma and internal organ failure after losing consciousness during a boating accident. She is in critical condition and will likely never recover. Elizabeth's accident causes certain unpleasant truths to come to light, and all the while Matt is involved in a life-altering decision that trumps almost anything. Being the descendant of Hawaiian royalty, Matt is the executor of a trust that involves the entire King family and their relatives. The Kings own 500 pristine acres of beachfront Hawaiian property. The estimated value is approximately half a trillion dollars. Investors want to purchase the land and develop it into housing, hotels, shopping malls, and this includes countless other commercial investments. Most Hawaiians prefer to leave the land untouched. Absorbing more tourism, causing more traffic, and spoiling their native land is a tough pill to swallow. Nevertheless, the King family owns the land and their trust is going to dissolve within 7 years. A decision needs to be made and Matt has been spearheading the effort for quite some time. That is, until his wife suffers this near fatal injury and certain uncomfortable truths are unveiled.

Matt's first decision is to take his oldest daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) out of preparatory school and to bring her home to help care for his youngest daughter Scottie (Amare Miller). Alexandra is rebellious, a frequent drinker and drug abuser, and she has a teenager's proclivity for acerbity. Scottie is sweet and goofy, but she will have to face a harrowing situation and needs all the support she can get. To be sure, Matt was never a loving husband or particularly concerned about Elizabeth's desires. He wanted to live frugally and off his income as an attorney. She wanted to sell the family's land and to live like a queen.

Somewhere, at an unknowable point, she began an affair with a local real estate broker Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard). Matt in all of his steadfastness as her caretaker and devotion to protecting his daughters finds out the unpleasant truth. His wife made a cuckold of him and a fool. To compound matters, Brian is involved in his family's plans to sell off their ancestral land. How far will Matt go to avenge his wife's infidelity? How will his daughters react to this sickening reality? Will this secret hamper the King family's land auctioning? Great questions indeed, but you will have to watch to find out!

Throughout the film I noticed similarities between The Descendants and Sideways (with Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church). The conflict, cuckoldry and raw emotionality felt eerily similar. When reviewing films I often force myself to enter the fray with a mental tabula rasa. I prefer to have no foreknowledge of a film so as to remain utterly unbiased and impartial. After viewing a picture, and in preparation for constructing a review, I research the actors involved, the director's history, and the historical background story's veracity (if any). The Descendants is indeed directed and co-written by Alexander Payne, the director of Sideways!

George Clooney is always a master of his craft. He plays this role steadfastly and with considerable poise and subtle charisma. This is one of many films he can add to his extensive and growing portfolio. Clooney is mastering the art of showing true emotion, not the forced feelings a director demands of untutored actors. Alternatively, for my money, the real stars of the show are the young actresses and one stoned young man. Amare Miller plays Scottie with perfection. She is at all times emotionally insufferable, bitter, sarcastic and terribly sorrowful. Shailene Woodley represents Alexandra better than any other teenage actress has done with their character in a long time. She is sexy, smart, witty and has a soft rebellious side that will win the hearts of her contemporaries and terrify parents to death! Nick Krause cannot help but to come across as a dopey stoner. Having starred in a National Lampoons film helped him secure this exact role. The interplay between Nick and his co-stars is necessary to the script and is executed brilliantly. Including Matthew Lillard, Judie Greer and Beau Bridges added some much needed veteran craftsmanship and leadership to the ensemble.

The colloquial underpin as it were is on every studio executive's mind. Will The Descendants prevail by winning the award for Best Picture? Certainly it will be nominated and widely recognized across the industry. But is it worthy of consideration as the best movie of the year? Pitted against J. Edgar or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would be stiff competition indeed. Nobody can predict what sort of lens that Academy's wizards of smart will look through while evaluating, but in my mind this film is tremendous more so for its acting and stellar direction. Conversing with my editor I was forced to admit this picture is unique and the thoroughly Hawaiian backdrop is one of a kind. The theme has Oscar written all over it but this film caused me to feel miserable and depressed. It is a humble slice of real life pie. In summation, The Descendants is a film that achieves greatness on many levels but it is anything but the best.