Oscar WorthyBy John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
This tragic-comic drama called Descendants is an amalgam of emotions and rituals, a condensed peek at grief and renewal in the paradise called Hawaii. As Matt King (George Clooney) voices over at the beginning a sober reflection that we should not think all is paradise when it is not, director Alexander Payne makes sure his Hawaii has few tourist ornaments and ukuleles and ample cloudy skies.
For the rest of this remarkably insightful visit with a grieving family (his wife is approaching death from a boating accident), Matt must navigate life with two kids, Alex (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara Miller) he has previously had little to do with and relatives eager to sell land for which he is the trustee. This is Clooney's role of a lifetime, nuanced with pathos and humor and enhanced by his self-effacing charm.
I must admit to being unable to think of a better acting job this year, not even his buddy Brad Pitt in Moneyball or Tree of life. Payne shares some of Clooney's honor for pacing him to let us understand his head is just above water, and for clouding over much of the sky to mitigate the joy that comes with breathing and sunning in paradise.
Payne is generous with all his characters, who are rounded enough to be memorable and distinctive. One of the Clooney children's friends, Sid (Nick Krause), is oafish at the beginning but becomes almost heroic as he supports Clooney against the overwhelming circumstances.
Nothing in this film is spectacular because it is about dealing with daily challenges like infidelity and death. Contradictions abound such as the saintly comatose wife with a past and charming father lost in the obligations he has avoided. In that regard we are all descendants of the human race, tortured by chance and driven by fate to love and lose, live and die, and if we're lucky, find a smile or two and someone to love?if it's our children doing the loving, so much the better.
John DeSando co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee, which can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com