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The
Descendants
by Frances Syner
 In 2004 Alexander Payne directed "Sideways," a quirky little comedy about a pair
of off beat California characters in search of the perfect pinot noir. It was a
big hit with critics and audiences alike. The film made the obscure Paul
Giamatti a star and, over night, replaced merlot with pinot noir on wine lover's
lists everywhere.
After a seven year hiatus Payne has returned to the screen with "The
Descendants," a much more expansive feature, this time starring the ultimate
mainstream actor George Clooney. In it he plays Matt King, a wealthy Honolulu
attorney who traces his ancestors back to Hawaiian royalty as well as the first
white settlers on the islands. Matt is also sole trustee for his family that has
inherited vast tracts of valuable, unspoiled land on Kauai. Several of the
cousins want to sell the property to a developer but Matt has the final say.
After a brief shot of a woman on water skies, the drama /comedy begins with a
scene of everyday Honolulu, a place Matt's friends on the mainland mistakenly
think of as paradise but Matt's reality is very different. "Paradise
can….itself," Matt narrates in voice over. The scene shifts to a hospital room
where Matt sits vigil. His wife Elizabeth, the woman we saw on the water skies,
lies in a coma, the result of a head injury incurred in a boating accident
several days before. The prognosis is poor.
Along with his wife's dire condition and the tricky land sale, Matt is also now
responsible for two troubled daughters he doesn't know very well. A self
described workaholic lawyer, he calls himself "the back up parent."
The younger daughter, ten year old Scottie, finds comfort in food and is accused
of bullying a classmate, while seventeen year old Alex, a student at an
expensive boarding school on the Big Island, rebels with alcohol and drugs.
Scottie misses her mom terribly while Alex can't get over a rocky relationship
she shared with her. Both girls are prone to eruptions of nasty language and
finger gestures (even at the bed side of their dying mother) which come off as
funny or offensive depending on your point of view.
But the problems don't end there. Early in the film Alex tearfully tells her
father that Elizabeth had been having an affair with Brian Speer, a local real
estate agent. Matt becomes obsessed with this revelation and makes it his
mission to find Speer, eventually tracking him down to a rented house on Kauai.
With confrontation in mind Matt takes his daughters, as well as Sid, Alex's
dimwitted, druggy boyfriend, along on the trip. Complications, both humorous and
emotional, arise but it's a turning point for everyone as the drama plays out on
the gorgeous property still owned by the King family.
In the hands of less capable screenwriters (Nat Faxon and Jim Rush co-wrote) and
director, "The Descendants" could have descended into shallow soap opera
territory but Payne's script is full of crisp, dark humor and oddball characters
you will actually care about as the film progresses. Lots of credit goes to the
fine cast. Clooney, in a scruffy wardrobe of flip flops and faded flowered
shirts, delivers a balanced performance as hapless dad and negligent husband
who, after all hell breaks loose, wants to do the right thing. Some of his
scenes are searing. Matt's good bye to his comatose wife is a tearjerker yet a
midnight conversation at the hotel in Kauai with Sid (played with appealing
offensiveness by Nick Krause) generates laughs as well as some of the films most
touching moments.
Krause is part of a stellar supporting cast including Shailene Woodley (Alex)
and Amara Miller (Scottie) who are wonderfully realistic as the daughters.
Woodley gives the film's best performance as the cranky, disconnected Alex who
is forced to grow up fast. Miller, a total natural, isn't far behind with her
heartbreaking portrayal of Scottie. Judy Greer, a talented actress usually found
playing the best friend in some romantic comedy, shows her dramatic side as
Julie, the wronged wife of Brian Speer and a shaggy Beau Bridges (brother of
Jeff) appears as Hugh, Matt's barfly cousin, but it's Robert Foster, who
delivers a knock out performance as Scott, Matt's angry father- in- law.
"The Descendants," adapted from the novel by Kaul Hart Hemmings and backed by a
soundtrack of original Hawaiian music, has as of this writing, already captured
several Screen Actor Guild and Golden Globe nominations and deservedly so. This
tragic/funny film is one of the best of the year and, along with "Sideways," one
of Payne's finest.
Awards Alert: Rhode Island College alumna, Viola Davis, has been nominated for
both a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award in the Best Actress in a
Drama category for her role in "The Help." Warwick native James Woods has also
been nominated for a SAG Award for his supporting role in the HBO feature "Too
Big to Fail." The Golden Globe Awards will be presented Jan. 15 on NBC at 8 pm.
The Sag Awards
can be seen on Jan. 29 at 8 pm on TNT and TBS.
Frances Syner is the Theatre and Film Columnist for the Federal Hill Gazette
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