Who would have thought that a young actress, best known for starring in The Secret Life of the American Teenager, would be capable of delivering a fantastic, heart-wrenching performance? In The Descendants, a film directed by Alexander Payne, Shailene Woodley does just that. Featuring George Clooney at his finest, The Descendants shines as a funny, sad and overall compelling story.
Clooney plays Matt King, a wealthy lawyer from Hawaii who is at a crossroads in his life. King’s wife is comatose after a boating accident, and he is also negotiating a lucrative sale of his ancestral land on Kauai. In over his head at home, where he must raise two daughters he barely knows, while coming to terms with possibly never seeing his wife wake up, King also faces immense pressure from members of his extended family, who each share a stake in his massive land deal. Along for the ride is Sid, a dopey, nitwit friend of King’s daughter who manages to provide deep insights along with plenty of laughs.
Payne, who based the film off of the novel of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings, has delivered a seemingly contradictory film. It is, for the majority of the time, a very sad movie with unhappy people, but it also happens to have very funny moments and characters, like King’s comical running and a verbally abusive grandfather. It is one of a few very high-quality films that is good enough to make you want to laugh and cry all at the same time.
Set and shot in Hawaii, The Descendants is a beautiful film. The contrast of the pristine waves and verdant hills with the chaotic, erupting lives of the characters works very well. All is not well in paradise in this movie.
Clooney is simply fantastic, managing to straddle the line between staying strong for his kids and being emotionally wrecked about his wife. Judy Greer, known for playing Kitty Sanchez on Arrested Development, is very funny in a short cameo as the wife of a lawyer involved in King’s land deal.
Woodley, meanwhile, is a revelation. Unlike Clooney, an established Oscar-winning movie star, Woodley’s performance comes out of nowhere. Playing an angry, rebellious alcoholic teen who possesses a devastating secret about her mother (King’s wife), Woodley brings real passion to her role, with great effect. Her lack of a film acting background actually benefits her, as she is completely believable in the role.
The Descendants is one of the few truly great films of 2011. It deserves serious awards recognition, especially for Woodley and Clooney, and I wholeheartedly recommend that you go to the theater and let Payne draw you into this fantastically melancholic yet hilarious story.
