Nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, "The Descendants" is a comedy-drama based on a novel of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Set in Hawaii, the film is directed by Alexander Payne and follows the journey of Honolulu-based lawyer and land trustee Matt King (George Clooney) in the aftermath of an accident that renders his wife unconcious. At times comical and at others tragic, "The Descendants" follows King's attempts to redefine and change his indifferent and distant relationship with his daughters, reconcile himself to his wife's affair and reach a decision regarding ownership of 25,000 acres of family land in Kauai by reevaluating the past and embracing the future. - Katie Tai
Directed by: Alexander PayneWith: Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause115 min.Rated R
"The Descendants" is a family odyssey involving death, infidelity and difficult children. Despite the heavy material, it is a genuinely moving and often humorous film that does not attempt to sugarcoat reality. Nick Krause contributes most of the humor as the scene-stealing, well-meaning doofus along for the ride for reasons that are never quite explained, and Clooney is unsurprisingly flawless though it is gratifying to watch him shine not as his usual smooth leading-man persona but as ordinary dad, complete with dorky clothing. Lauren Sarner
Infused with Payne's trademark tragicomedy, "The Descendants" is that rare film that walks the thin line between laughter and tears. Clooney, in his Oscar-deserving performance, beautifully portrays a man whose life is spectacularly collapsing around him. Woodley's performance also succeeds as his troubled daughter. Varun BhucharPayne's film is an honest portrait of a family dealing with immense grief. The sparse comic relief is attention-grabbing, as scenes of an old man punching a dopey adolescent or a young girl uttering horrible obscenities are harshly juxtaposed with King's melancholy perspective, which forces a feeling of discomfort upon the audience. Payne's direction and undulating plot structure is refreshing, and Woodley, from "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," gives an incredibly sincere and accurate performance of the perpetually angry teen.
Kate Sullivan
