Movie review: A kinder, gentler George Clooney in 'The Descendants'

He’s been dubbed Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor so many times that it’s a little hard to imagine George Clooney as a dad. When he does play the role, as he did the first time in the Oscar-nominated “The Descendants,” he succeeds brilliantly as the typical absentee father who grows into the task of parenthood because of unexpected events.

 

In the movie, Clooney is a lawyer who has inherited a much-coveted piece of paradise in Hawaii from his mixed heritage of Polynesian and white immigrant roots. His dilemma over what to do with the land runs parallel with his struggle to cope with a personal tragedy – his dying wife lies in a coma while he gets to know his two daughters and agonizes over a family secret, all at the same time.  

In less capable hands, the film could have ended up like any other family flick – all screaming and tears and recriminations for two hours. There’s some of that, but this being a Clooney film, there’s also plenty of comic relief and startling twists when the audience least expects it. He’s already won in the drama category of the Golden Globes, and Clooney just might get a shot at an Oscar Best Actor if voters buck the trend that’s had Jean Dujardin sweeping the honor in all award-giving bodies so far this year.

 

It’s not just Clooney that carries the film though. A lot of the credit goes to the young cast that joins him in his journey of revenge and redemption. There’s Amara Miller, a first-time actress who is an absolute natural as the naughty but lovable 10-year-old Scottie. It probably helped that, according to the production notes, she didn’t know much about Clooney’s star power and so their father-daughter bonding in the film is something that’s straight out of your regular family home video.

 

And then there’s Shailene Woodley, a young actress who makes her film debut as the rebellious teenage daughter Alex who stumbles into the painful truth about her mother and helps her dad deal with the offensive reality about his marriage. The star of the TV show “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” Woodley is a new face whose long limbs and sensitive acting just might resonate with a youth-obsessed audience.

 

At first, it wasn’t quite easy what to make of Sid, the quirky close friend of Alex who joins the family in many of its misadventures. As the story progresses, however, he emerges as the counterfoil to the unfolding family drama and becomes a well-placed prop when he is most needed. Nick Krause is alternately goofy and laidback in the role, pulling the family from the brink of schmaltziness as needed, but putting in his own back story to balance them off too.

 

The setting does as much for the movie as the acting, although it would have been nice to see more of the estate in question. According to the production notes, many of the scenes were shot in the ‘Garden Isle’ of Kaui, which was also the location of “Jurassic Park.” Except for one scene where the family gets a bird’s eye view of their little Eden, however, there’s not much else that would help the viewer appreciate the inheritance, no sweeping vistas or jaw-dropping outdoor cinematography.

 

Based on the novel with the same title, “The Descendants” brings to mind the famous quote attributed to Kalinga chief Macliing Dulag regarding his indigenous community’s ancestral domain in the Cordilleras: “You ask us if we own the land and mock us, saying ‘Where is your title?’ Such arrogance of owning the land when you shall be owned by it. How can you own that which will outlive you?”

 

If you find yourself hankering for a tub of ice cream after watching the film, blame it on director Alexander Payne, whose subtle cadences allow the viewer to believe that a woman can actually cheat on someone as dashing as Clooney, Hawaiian shirts and all. Although the focus of the film sometimes gets lost in the clumsy attempts of Clooney’s character to inflict retribution, Payne manages to convey the essence of what it means to preserve a legacy, not just in terms of property but more importantly, in the sense of family. –KG, GMA News

 

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox. “The Descendants” won Best Picture for Drama in the Golden Globe awards and is now showing in cinemas nationwide.