Due
to its success at the Golden Globes picking up the best movie award and the
best actor in a leading role award (George Clooney) I decided to remain open to
the fact that it may actually be a very watchable film and the Golden Globes
might just have got it right this time.
Sadly once again I was disappointed.
There are some very well done bits and some decent acting in there but
overall it’s pretty poor and I am surprised the academy have recognised this as
‘an outstanding film’ because it really isn’t.
So
the story goes a soon to be wealthy inheritor tries to rectify his
deteriorating relationship with his kids whilst his wife lies in a coma after a
serious boating accident, sounds very downbeat doesn’t it? But this plot feature doesn’t take over the
purpose of the movie, the fact that the mother could potentially die is almost
pushed aside, and hangs over the film weightlessly like a drape, what’s underneath
is a warm narrative about this family and how they must carry on with their
lives. The film starts off with this
brilliantly written bit of narration about paradise, and how Hawaii (his home)
may appear like paradise but in fact the reality is very different, as Clooney
puts it ‘Hell I haven’t been a on surf board in fifteen years’ it perfectly
sums up the loss of exuberance Matt King’s (George Clooney) family experiences.
There
were these fantastic moments where you didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and
ended up somewhere in-between, and an effortless pace to the film, some may say
it was just plain slow but I liked it, it was a reflection of the easy-going
nature of Hawaii but also the families struggle to hold onto what could be the final
moments of their mother living on a life support machine. It was very nicely done, however I did feel
slightly underwhelmed by it, with the awareness of its Oscar nominations and my
theory that Clooney is becoming the modern day Cary Grant (versatile and
intelligent as a performer) I did expect slightly more. It was all very pleasant but there were some
bits where I wanted a bit more than just pleasant, I wanted to feel something
and I wanted to be emotional but somehow the script wouldn’t allow it.
It
was well directed, a very simple and obvious approach to the story with some
clever edits, but nothing stand out really.
The acting was its real strength but interestingly enough Clooney’s
Oscar nominated portrayal wasn’t the stand out performance for me, no, this
came from Shailene Woodley who plays the troubled eldest daughter, she was
exceptional and she needs another role like this to get some recognition
because she was very good, and considering her experience comes from TV movies
she gave a very polished performance.
The characters were likable and had some depth; even the ‘awesome dude’
boyfriend of the eldest child, Sid, showed some real wisdom. In fact his character was reminiscent of
Keanu Reaves’ in Parenthood (1989).
The
thing is there have been better movies over the past 12 months which haven’t
got the recognition, so to see a film like this which has got so much praise
from the academy is quite disheartening, it suggests that in this industry star
power and sentiment drives the critical success of a film, when there are
horror movies and action movies and independent movies that need this sort of
praise, the superhero genre has been very strong recently, these movies need to
be nominated because then you end up with these oddities like The Descendants
because the academy have a criteria which certain movies, be them good or bad
simply don’t fit.
Overall
a passable movie that I won’t hurry to go and see again and I do think its five
Oscar nominations are slightly unjust, and the film is a bit over rated but hey
it wasn’t terrible and there were some definite positives, which actually
outweigh the negatives. Just don’t show
up to The Descendants with any expectations and you will enjoy it. If, like me, you are encouraged by media hype
or rave reviews then I’m afraid you will be disappointed.
***
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