My friends on the mainland think just because I live in Hawaii, I live in paradise.Like a permanent vacation.We’re all just out here sipping Mai Tais, shaking our hips, catching waves.Are they insane?Do they think we are immune to life?How can they possibly think our families are less screwed up, our cancers less fatal, our heartaches less painful?Hell, I haven’t been on a surfboard in fifteen years.For the last twenty-three days I’ve been living in a paradise of IVs, and urine bags, and tracheal tubes.Paradise.Paradise can go fuck itself.
This opening voiceover sets the terms of reference with regard to The Descendants, Alexander Payne’s remarkable new film. It tells the story of a personal and a family crisis, and it does so by walking a fine line between comedy and tragedy; in other words, the paradox of the human condition. Creating such a fine line is a particularly difficult task, but not for The Descendants; every shot and every line is hitting the right chord, thus sustaining an elegant emotional balance. And just like life itself, it is a refreshingly unpredictable film; clear and yet subtle, cinematically intelligent and at the same time emotionally rich.
The voiceover is narrated by Matt King (George Clooney), a middle-aged lawyer and estranged husband, whose wife has fallen into a coma after a boating accident, and is to be disconnected from life support according to her living will. Matt now has to help his two young daughters come to terms with the situation, despite the fact that until the accident he had been ‘the backup parent, the understudy.’ On top of everything, he finds out that his wife was having an affair, and eventually embarks on a journey to seek her lover out. George Clooney’s acting is superb, and his portrayal of Matt King brings out all of the character’s emotional complexity, in the most natural of ways. And while the entire supporting cast is exceptionally good, it would be unfair not to underline Shailene Woodley’s fine performance as the elder daughter Alex.
The Descendants is an adaptation of the novel by the Hawaiian author Kaui Hart Hemmings, who also makes a cameo appearance as Matt King’s secretary. Location is of particular importance to the film in that Hawaii comes across as an integral part of the narrative, rather than its visual background. In cinematic terms it is interpreted as an everyday living - and dying - space, instead of some kind of exotic holiday landscape; and as such, it complements the emotional turbulence involved in Matt King’s journey from alienation to responsibility. It also underlines the wider social significance of his change of character, when as the sole trustee of a family trust of vast unspoiled land, he refuses to sell against the will of his greedy cousins.
Alexander Payne’s perspective is insightfully two-fold: the film is about dealing with the death of a loved one, as it is about masculinity in crisis. And one of the most interesting aspects of The Descendants is that the narrative deconstructs Matt King’s gender roles, but also refuses to restore them as such; control is not regained, because there cannot be any control over death. What can be, however, is an invaluable acknowledgement of one’s own faults and weaknesses; in a key scene, Matt turns to Alex’s boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause), whom he considers to be ‘retarded,’ only to find out that he had lost his father a few months ago. Matt’s course from husband to widower involves a better understanding of himself and the world around him, which eventually allows him to develop an enhanced emotional connection with his daughters, as well as to tenderly say goodbye to his wife one last time. This course is, above all, a learning process; and he learns how to change, because he learns how to listen. And in this respect, The Descendants is also a film about what perhaps is the dearest thing in life: hope.
Alexander Payne’s perspective is insightfully two-fold: the film is about dealing with the death of a loved one, as it is about masculinity in crisis. And one of the most interesting aspects of The Descendants is that the narrative deconstructs Matt King’s gender roles, but also refuses to restore them as such; control is not regained, because there cannot be any control over death. What can be, however, is an invaluable acknowledgement of one’s own faults and weaknesses; in a key scene, Matt turns to Alex’s boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause), whom he considers to be ‘retarded,’ only to find out that he had lost his father a few months ago. Matt’s course from husband to widower involves a better understanding of himself and the world around him, which eventually allows him to develop an enhanced emotional connection with his daughters, as well as to tenderly say goodbye to his wife one last time. This course is, above all, a learning process; and he learns how to change, because he learns how to listen. And in this respect, The Descendants is also a film about what perhaps is the dearest thing in life: hope.
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