The Descendants

Super-star actors like George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are at the top of their game for good reason. They are not just famous celebrities we see on the cover of People magazine which lies in the rack at the grocery store. They act and make the best films when compared with the films that their peers make. I suppose since they are already incredibly wealthy, money no longer is the priority when choosing projects. They would much rather choose to do films like The Descendants, Moneyball or In the Land of Blood and Honey (respectively), where they can gain respect by winning accolades and awards.

I had never heard of The Descendants, which stars George Clooney, and directed by Alexander Payne until the 2012 Golden Globe nominations were announced. The Descendants is a film mainly about family. Clooney is a father and husband whose wife was in a boating accident. She hit her head and is now in a coma on life support. Clooney has two daughters ages 10 and 17. They live in Hawaii. Clooney, who is a busy real estate attorney now has to learn to raise his children who he has not had much experience with before his wife's accident, because he travelled a lot on business and was hardly around. He now also has to learn how to deal with the imminent bereavement of his wife and manage his somewhat estranged children's feelings too. The other side of this film's story is that Clooney's character is the trustee of a massive land in Hawaii worth hundreds of millions of dollars, someone even offering half a billion. He and his 7 or 8 other 'cousins' are The Descendants of this land, which may or may not be sold by the end of the movie.

Clooney's voice over at the beginning of the film was quick to suppress our stereotipical notion that everyone who lives in Hawaii lives in paradise. Or that its residents are on some permanent vacation, where everybody sips on Mai Tais on the beach everyday, without a care in the world. No, Hawaii is like everywhere else. People there work for a living. "Its residents are not immune to life."

So, the movie is about Clooney dealing with the business of getting the land sold, and dealing with his children whose mother will not wake up. There is a clever tie-in between boths stories that raises the dramatic and comedy to a high level, because, Clooney, who was excited about the sale before, now finds himself in a dilemma.








Clooney decides to take the family on a trip to inform all family and friends about the state of the wife/mother. Alex decides she wants to bring some obnoxious and impolite guy-friend along with her. Clooney disagrees at first until she says she would behave herself more if he is there with her. It turns out she did behave. This guy-friend seems to be really annoying at first, many times, never realizing how insensitive he is to an old woman's Alzheimer's or the serious situation the family is going through. However as he travels with the family, we notice him understanding things better, he even has a few seconds of wisdom to disperse. We learn that he lost his father a few months back, so maybe that is the connection Alex sees in him, and therapy she needed.

This movie is very smartly written. It is also well grounded in reality. Nothing happens that could not happen in real life. As I listened to the characters talk, I kept saying to myself, yep, that is how I would expect that character to respond...yep, if I were her, I would do exactly that. But the reason we go to movies is to see something we would not normally see in real life, therefore the dialogue is pushed a bit beyond reality just a tiny bit, so that there are witty comebacks and clever remarks, which makes it more exciting.

There were amazing performances by every single cast member. Clooney is obviously great as always. He shows that he is as adept at comedy as he is at displaying and evoking strong emotion. Even actors normally known for comedic roles like Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer were great in their dramatic parts. Clooney's father-in-law, played by Robert Forster (popularly known from Jackie Brown), is amazing as a gentle but bitter father who blames Clooney for not giving her what he thought his daughter deserved in life. A stand out performance was Shailene Woodley as Alex, Clooney's teenage daughter. At the beginning, she is a rebel, but her character arch evolves to become her dad's partner who goes on hilarious family reconnaissance missions.

I normally would not be the first to seek out dramas, but I am begining to like comedy-dramas because as soon as a scene becomes too sad, the filmmakers inject something funny, but not 'haha' funny so as not to downplay the seriousness, but the kind that makes you wanna cry and smile at the same time.

Every character gets their time to grow, learn and cry.

Director irector Alexander Payne has only made 5 films, including About Schmidt and Sideways which already makes him a master at what he does.

The Descendants won the Golden Globe award in 2012 for Best Picture - Drama, and Best Actor - Drama for George Clooney. This is a film that will be a classic which will withstand the test of time.

By Folarin Osibodu