The Descendents

29 April 2019

The Descendents 2011

• Director: Alexander Payne
• Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings
• Cast: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Patricia Hastie
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• George Clooney – Hail Caesar, Gravity, Burn after Reading, Michael Clayton, Good Night and Good Luck, Intolerable Cruelty, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Solaris, The Perfect Storm, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Thin Red Line
• Why? Good reviews
• Seen: 27 April 2019      

       Liz (Hastie) is in a coma after a boating accident. Her husband Matt (Clooney) is forced to deal with their two daughters, Scottie (Miller) and Alex (Woodley) alone. They’re both behaving badly. He’s also under pressure about selling some very valuable choice property, some of the last virgin Hawaiian land. He is told that Liz is going to die when the machines are switched off, which is obligatory according to her Living Will. It has not been a happy marriage, they are not a happy family.

       Rich, male, privileged, white (well, almost, his grandmother was native Hawaiian) living in paradise, Matt says, ‘Fuck Paradise.’ Yes, of course, rich white etc people suffer from illness, injury, family dysfunction and all that but it’s hard not to reflect that poor and oppressed people suffer even more because they don’t have money, coastline property or connections with powerful people.

       With that said, the acting is good, the concept is interesting enough, though the story is kind of weird and contrived. But the ending is quite satisfactory.

3 ½* of 5