The Descendants

We all go to tropical islands for holidays. But when we do we can sometimes forget that people live and work on these islands and they have the same problems as all of us, despite living in a beautiful looking place.

I have been a fan of director Alexander Payne since his first film 'Election'. He is an excellent director who takes seemly ordinary and common stories and makes them feel fresh and new with a quirky sense of humour. While this film lacks some of the really quirky humour we've come to expect, it is still an excellent film. There is the common story of a parents, in this case a father, who must reconnect with his family after a tragedy. He must learn who his kids and wife really are. Matt King comes across as a very relaxed character. He does not always show his true emotions but has little explosions of emotion occasionally. These can provide some of the humour in the film. There is also the tension of how Matt is going to react when he meets the man with whom his wife was having an affair. There is also the tension of what he will be doing with his families land. Matt has so much going on in his life that it keeps the film interesting and you are never bored because there is always one of these many plot elements coming to the fore.

Everyone is praising George Clooney's performance in this film and saying how remarkable he is, and I think it is very true. I don't like to judge an actor's performance based on their real life but sometimes I think you need to. We all know that George Clooney is a perpetual bachelor. He is always dating beautiful women and has not settled down, gotten married and had kids. Most of his roles have been men who are not family men. Which is why this film is so significant. George is brilliant at playing father. He is a kind of absentee father so he is constantly struggling to become a father. He seemed convincing to me. As his daughters Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller are excellent. Shailene plays the typical sullen teen but has enough wit to make her character interesting. Her dirty mouth was a constant source of amusement for me with the mostly older audience when I was the film. Nick Krause has a difficult job of playing a character who starts off as an idiot but then you come to like. He has lots of goofy charm to make his character fun. I like to see the normally comedic Judy Greer doing something more dramatic. I think that Patricia Hastie has the toughest job in the film as Matt's wife in the coma. Despite just lying in a bed and being in a coma, Patricia has a big presence in the film.

Not your typical George Clooney movie. He is playing against type in more ways than one. Definitely worth checking out.