The first thing I did on New Year's Day was go see The Descendants. Believe me, it might be the best thing you do all year.
The story is about Matt King, a lawyer from Honolulu who is devastated when his wife Elizabeth is in a boating accident and rendered comatose. He has two daughters, 10-year old Scottie who has a smart mouth and exhibits some wildly inappropriate behavior and 17-year old Alex who has had issues with drinking and drugs and has been shipped off to boarding school. Matt is the self-described "back-up parent" and with his wife lying unresponsive in a hospital bed, he finds himself struggling to take control of the household and care for his daughters. Once he finds out that his wife is not going to make it and will be taken off life support according to the wishes stated in her living will, Matt has to start visiting friends and relatives to break the news and let them say their last goodbyes to Elizabeth.
Matt enlists Alex's help, telling her that he will need her to accompany him on some visits and or care of her sister when he's away visiting other people. At this point, Alex finally reveals why she and Elizabeth fought earlier that year. It turns out Elizabeth was having an affair, which Matt had absolutely no idea about. As you can imagine, he does not take the news well.
Adding to Matt's troubles is the fact that he is the sole trustee of his family's trust that stretches back several generations to his great-great-grandmother who was a Hawaiian princess. The trust owns a pristine piece of 25,000-acre property on the island of Kaua'i, which needs to be sold before it is lost due to laws against perpetuities. Matt has to deal with various cousins who need the money from the sale while the whole of Hawaii is eagerly following his family's decision on who to sell the property to. No one wants to see a Walmart built in the middle of that astonishingly beautiful area and the family is largely agreed upon selling it to a developer from Kaua'i, who knows the land and will be least likely to maim it. Unfortunately, Matt eventually learns something about this developer that might make him re-think the whole idea.
I know that nothing I've outlined so far sounds particularly funny and that is precisely what makes this movie so enchanting. It could easily have gone down the hard-luck sob-story road, but instead it takes the far more realistic path, where sorrow can be intertwined with humor and farce. Alex's incredibly dense friend Sid accompanies the family on their various road trips and provides much-needed comic relief with his stupid observations and strange ideas. Their attempts to stalk and confront the man that Elizabeth was having an affair with are hysterical and there are plenty of jokes amidst the very real tragedy that is enveloping this family. I heard plenty of sniffles in the audience and many people were blowing their noses in their handkerchiefs, but then two scenes later, they were laughing out loud as Sid did something ridiculous or Scottie said something insane.
Ultimately, the film is a masterclass in acting, with George Clooney imbuing Matt King with just the right amount of haplessness, strength, bewilderment, anger, and love. His one-sided dialogues with his comatose wife are simply stunning, going through emotions that you didn't even know humans could express. And Shailene Woodley is riveting as Alex, the foul-mouthed, alternately supportive and resentful daughter who is struggling with the awfulness of her mother's betrayal when there's nothing she can do about it now. Amara Miller is wonderful as the 10-year old Scottie who traipses through the movie with seemingly no idea that her mother is actually going to die until the very end in a scene that will break your heart.
Lest I forget, the whole story takes place in the jawdroppingly gorgeous setting of Hawaii with a lilting Hawaiian soundtrack to score the proceedings. But as Matt points out in the very beginning of the film, just because he lives in Hawaii, it doesn't mean he lives in Paradise. The entire film illustrates the point that people living in so-called Paradise are still subject to all the tragedies and woes of human life. A beautiful beach is little comfort when your wife is lying in the hospital and you are stalking her lover.
The Descendants is the kind of Oscar movie I absolutely love. A sad-funny story with some brilliantly realized characters and an ending that is just perfect. Clooney is definitely getting a Best Actor nomination for his role in this film and he has a solid chance of winning. And a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination is almost certainly coming their way. Interestingly, the movie was directed and co-written by Alexander Payne of Sideways fame, but one of the other co-writers is Jim Rash who plays the ridiculously over-the-top Dean Pelton on NBC's Community. I would happily vote for The Descendants to win Best Adapted Screenplay just to see Dean Pelton accept the award. So, bring on the nominations, and bring on the awards, because this is one of those must-see movies that make the bleak winter months feel like Paradise.
The story is about Matt King, a lawyer from Honolulu who is devastated when his wife Elizabeth is in a boating accident and rendered comatose. He has two daughters, 10-year old Scottie who has a smart mouth and exhibits some wildly inappropriate behavior and 17-year old Alex who has had issues with drinking and drugs and has been shipped off to boarding school. Matt is the self-described "back-up parent" and with his wife lying unresponsive in a hospital bed, he finds himself struggling to take control of the household and care for his daughters. Once he finds out that his wife is not going to make it and will be taken off life support according to the wishes stated in her living will, Matt has to start visiting friends and relatives to break the news and let them say their last goodbyes to Elizabeth.
Matt enlists Alex's help, telling her that he will need her to accompany him on some visits and or care of her sister when he's away visiting other people. At this point, Alex finally reveals why she and Elizabeth fought earlier that year. It turns out Elizabeth was having an affair, which Matt had absolutely no idea about. As you can imagine, he does not take the news well.
Adding to Matt's troubles is the fact that he is the sole trustee of his family's trust that stretches back several generations to his great-great-grandmother who was a Hawaiian princess. The trust owns a pristine piece of 25,000-acre property on the island of Kaua'i, which needs to be sold before it is lost due to laws against perpetuities. Matt has to deal with various cousins who need the money from the sale while the whole of Hawaii is eagerly following his family's decision on who to sell the property to. No one wants to see a Walmart built in the middle of that astonishingly beautiful area and the family is largely agreed upon selling it to a developer from Kaua'i, who knows the land and will be least likely to maim it. Unfortunately, Matt eventually learns something about this developer that might make him re-think the whole idea.
I know that nothing I've outlined so far sounds particularly funny and that is precisely what makes this movie so enchanting. It could easily have gone down the hard-luck sob-story road, but instead it takes the far more realistic path, where sorrow can be intertwined with humor and farce. Alex's incredibly dense friend Sid accompanies the family on their various road trips and provides much-needed comic relief with his stupid observations and strange ideas. Their attempts to stalk and confront the man that Elizabeth was having an affair with are hysterical and there are plenty of jokes amidst the very real tragedy that is enveloping this family. I heard plenty of sniffles in the audience and many people were blowing their noses in their handkerchiefs, but then two scenes later, they were laughing out loud as Sid did something ridiculous or Scottie said something insane.
Ultimately, the film is a masterclass in acting, with George Clooney imbuing Matt King with just the right amount of haplessness, strength, bewilderment, anger, and love. His one-sided dialogues with his comatose wife are simply stunning, going through emotions that you didn't even know humans could express. And Shailene Woodley is riveting as Alex, the foul-mouthed, alternately supportive and resentful daughter who is struggling with the awfulness of her mother's betrayal when there's nothing she can do about it now. Amara Miller is wonderful as the 10-year old Scottie who traipses through the movie with seemingly no idea that her mother is actually going to die until the very end in a scene that will break your heart.
Lest I forget, the whole story takes place in the jawdroppingly gorgeous setting of Hawaii with a lilting Hawaiian soundtrack to score the proceedings. But as Matt points out in the very beginning of the film, just because he lives in Hawaii, it doesn't mean he lives in Paradise. The entire film illustrates the point that people living in so-called Paradise are still subject to all the tragedies and woes of human life. A beautiful beach is little comfort when your wife is lying in the hospital and you are stalking her lover.
The Descendants is the kind of Oscar movie I absolutely love. A sad-funny story with some brilliantly realized characters and an ending that is just perfect. Clooney is definitely getting a Best Actor nomination for his role in this film and he has a solid chance of winning. And a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination is almost certainly coming their way. Interestingly, the movie was directed and co-written by Alexander Payne of Sideways fame, but one of the other co-writers is Jim Rash who plays the ridiculously over-the-top Dean Pelton on NBC's Community. I would happily vote for The Descendants to win Best Adapted Screenplay just to see Dean Pelton accept the award. So, bring on the nominations, and bring on the awards, because this is one of those must-see movies that make the bleak winter months feel like Paradise.
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| This is the property that Matt has to sell in the movie. Who wants to chip in and help me buy this place? We only need half a billion or so. |
i'm in!! this is on my to do list (instead, i saw MI-ghost protocol).
ReplyDeleteYou have skewed movie-watching priorities.
ReplyDelete