I knew two things about this movie going into it: That it won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, with a few more nominations on top, and that two of the people who wrote it (Jim Rash and Nat Faxon) also wrote one of my personal favourite movies, The Way Way Back.
The Descendants focuses first on Matt King (George Clooney) a land manager living in Hawaii and recently struck with tragedy: his wife fell into a coma after a boating accident. With her indisposed, Matt now has to contend with his two daughters (played by Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) while also juggling a massive land deal with the rest of his family. To add one more piece of wood to the fire, Matt finds out from his daughter Alex (Woodley) that his wife cheated on him last Christmas.
The film does a good job of making the characters relatable; despite their lofty origins, they experience tragedy and grief the same way anyone else would, and so their distant setting and financial benefits fade away as the story is told. There's a testament to the editing and directing of the film to be made here too: the story flows, every step makes sense, being caused by the previous one. Every emotion each character has to deal with is played in a way that invests us in them, up close and human without any moment where it feels unbelievable.
Clooney gives the best performance here, truly credible as an inexperienced father dealing with more than he can handle. He grows and changes over the course of the movie, learning to attend to and accept his emotions. The scenes in which he speaks to his comatose wife are notable highlights; the setting allows him to be unfiltered about how he feels.
That said, we certainly don't discount the girls, especially Woodley. My first experience with her was the Divergent movie, so it's impressive to see her give such an excellent performance as opposed to that. In her role as Alex, she helps her father come to term with his emotions. She also takes after her father in the emotion department. She's angry like he is, and tries to contain her emotions like he does; a scene in which she is told her mother is going to die reflects this as she dives under the water of her pool to cry rather than have her father see. Miller is also fun as Scottie, the younger of the daughters. She doesn't add much in terms of character growth, and mainly serves as a foil to Matt and Alex, but she is delightful in this role.
With that in mind, I feel the need to quickly discuss the character of Sid (Nick Krause). He's the one aspect of the movie that I can't quite put my finger on. He's mostly annoying, but also funny and a little profound, but I don't quite know how I feel about his inclusion. I suppose, ultimately, I can say I enjoyed his character, but only after the movie had considerably developed.
The Verdict: The Descendants is a superb movie. It does a fantastic job of building investment in its characters through its storytelling. Every actor brings the best in their characters out here, and allow the film to build investment in its characters through compelling arcs and story. I recommend this film and believe it will appeal to most, as even with its tragic beginnings it ends on an uplifting note.
Rating: 8/10
Watched January 8th, 2016, Published July 5th, 2016
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