The Descendants (2011)

 If you read my post yesterday, you will remember that I said I was going to stay home and do bookish things.  News flash...I did not.  Instead I did a little shopping, lunch and a movie with my parents.  I was all jacked up because I thought "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" was out, but unfortunately I am a week early.  The only other movie that I deemed worth our time and money was The Descendants.

The Descendants has gotten a serious amount of Oscar Buzz in just about every major category.  This is going to be THE movie to see over the next few months, with good reason.  Plus, let's face it.  What on earth could be bad when it involves Hawaii and George Clooney?

Matthew King (Clooney) is a dispirited, over-worked real estate attorney whose marriage was starting to fall apart when his wife was in a boating accident and rendered comatose.  They have two daughters, one 17 and one 10, both with various emotional issues due to their mother's illness.  King attempts to deal with his two children who, for all intents and purposes, are strangers to him, and in the process learns that his wife may have been unfaithful.  King takes his children (and a stoner boyfriend) to Kauai to track down the rat bastard that was sleeping with his wife, and in return gets a little more than he expects.

At the same time, King and his dozens of cousins, all descendants of royalty in Hawaii, must decide whether or not to sell 24,000 acres of prime island real estate that will make them all rich beyond their dreams.

    

If you think I have just gone and spoiled the whole movie for you, please know that there is so much more going on here than what I have described.  This movie is full of some really big issues, all so emotionally-wrought and heart-breakingly real that by the ending credits, my stomach hurt from the clenching.

So it isn't all shits and giggles here.  But it is some really fine acting, not only from Clooney, who may well nab a prize in the Best Actor category, but from Shailene Woodley in her first full-length movie role.  It may not be the best film to see if you are feeling particularly fragile (especially since they are showing the trailer to Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close prior, Lord help me).  And there is a warm little surge of hope at the end. 

Which, to me, was so typical of Alexander Payne.  I absolutely loved his directorial work in Sideways.  And while there is a significant dose of anguish in that movie, you also laugh, and there is that last scene that I will never forget.  One that makes you nod your head and say "OK, the tormented guy now gets how to live.  There is peace".  Payne has brought those same emotions to this movie as well. 

Lastly, there is Hawaii.  Beautiful, exotic, lush Hawaii, with its haunting music and loud shirts.  It was a dichotomy...all this suffering with a backdrop of natural beauty. It went a little way to soothe my ragged soul. 

Well, a movie reviewer I am not, but I hope I adequately expressed what a gem of a movie this is.  Strengthen yourself, and go see it.  And prepared to be touched.