The Descendants (2011)

As a significant Alexander Payne fan its tough to admit I was disappointed with The Descendants, his forth feature film and his first since 2006. At least compared to his three previous efforts and especially his masterpiece, the buddy comedy wine tour that was Sideways. I don’t really think as a director he is overrated, but maybe this film is. It's probably unfair to do so, but his movies tend to warrant comparison given their similar cues and nuances; all low key stories composed merely with different players and settings. I couldn’t review The Descendants without making any comparisons, though I will try not to let that overtake the experience too much.

The story initially revolves around Matt King (George Clooney) trying to "handle" his two daughters after his wife is put into a boat accident induced coma. It is a meandering tale but this is what Payne does after all and that wasn’t a problem, quite the opposite as I do admire his laid back technical approach employed here again. The characters are no more or less likeable than any of the others in his films either, but perhaps a shallowness does exist with the family a little too obviously despite a brief monologue by Matt at the start of the film, decrying people’s attitudes towards others without understanding the full story. The balance of humour and drama is just as – or maybe even more – successful as it always is but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get invested emotionally as I was with previous films. This is important for truly appreciating an Alexander Payne film I believe and definitely, I was unable to get to the point that you need to be to find The Descendants truly great. I think it tried to hard to push the emotion. The difference of it being great or merely good is how emotionally sincere it feels. The closeness that the Kings experience due to the events in the film ring true however and is a very positive thing.

It's a slow mover but never really feels dull and it rewards your patience as some of the best moments materialise in the third act. Though it is hard to choose any particular scene or scenes that stood out as memorable. Without question George Clooney as usual, was great – a subtle dressed down rendition of a Dad for the actor worthy of accolades. His two daughters aged ten and seventeen were played as natural as possible by Amara Miller and Shailene Woodley respectively, with only a couple of moments of angst feeling unconvincing. Other performances were fittingly good, particularly Robert Forster as the father-in-law and a much matured Mathew Lillard in a key role.

It seems to come with the territory with such subject matter but The Descendants wasn’t an overly depressing film by any means despite sitting in someone's misery primarily here. I’m glad there are writers and directors out there intent on showing the disappointment of life and have it work on any everyman level. I have decent sized expectations given I rate Payne pretty highly, so it is just a shame it didn’t resonate as much as I needed it to because it was presented in typically warm fashion by the director. A revisit in a year or so may yield different emotions – maturity does seem to have that effect.

#review #GeorgeClooney #AlexanderPayne #TheDescendants