The Descendants

Indian Express rating:****

“I LIKE writing about families,” says Kaui Hart Hemmings,“because someone once said I could be a doctor… I’m not afraid of blood and sadness.”

The Descendants,based on a Hemmings book by the same name,simmers with the sadness,particularly the kind of sadness that marks families,a sadness seldom acknowledged till it becomes a tragedy,a sadness that could even be funny looked from outside,and a sadness that can never escape either its past of sunshine times or its future of shadowed guilt.

The canvas of this sadness — never grief — is the face of Matt King (Clooney),whose fun-loving,sporty wife has had a boating accident that’s left her in coma. She made it clear in her will that in circumstances such as this,she would rather die than prolong her misery,and so Matt has to pull the plug on the machines supporting her soon.

Elizabeth’s coming death leaves Matt,“the back-up parent”,with the responsibility of two daughters,10-year-old Scottie (Miller) and 17-year-old Alex (Woodley). Both Scottie,who is at the age when she is no longer a child but not yet a teen,and Alex,who is in an expensive drug rehab,are a handful. However,Matt doesn’t have to just deal with the prospect of bearing sole responsibility for the two,he also discovers via Alex that his wife was having an affair. Friends later admit Elizabeth was considering divorcing Matt.

Director Payne’s camera seldom leaves Matt as he battles with anger,frustration,guilt and misery. Is it his fault she looked outside the marriage? Is Elizabeth’s father right in accusing him of being too stingy with his millions? Is it convenient to blame him? Is it okay for him to be feeling thus at a time like this? Whom does he ask the questions he needs the answers to? What answers does he give for the questions put to him?

One straight course that occurs to him is to confront the “other man”. However,what does he say when he finds the man?

In the hands of Payne (Sideways,About Schmidt),the film excels in laying out the different emotions going through Matt’s mind. Clooney is almost comical in how he dashes about literally,in flip-flops and shorts,his face telling the story of a man whose world has split wide open,and in his amateurish attempts to spy on Elizabeth’s lover. He is clueless around his two daughters and their abusive language – “it’s almost as if you guys don’t respect authority,” he says confusedly but not reproachfully – and Alex’s seemingly spaced-out friend Sid.

However,if Clooney holds this film together,he is ably supported by Woodley in a stand-out performance as the 17-year-old rebel suddenly left with no cause to be angry about. She finds herself in a new role as her father’s listening board,his voice of reason in a sea of uncertainty,even by his side when he confronts her mother’s lover. What began as a dysfunctional family slowly comes together with feet tucked in under the same blanket on a couch.

The third star of The Descendants is Hawaii,the beautiful state,huge parts of which King owns with his large family as part of an ancient legacy. That virginal land needs to be disposed of one way or the other as part of a trust deal and as Matt stands to lose almost all he has known as a way of life,the land and its scenic,calm,serene beauty is a constant presence and a constant contrast.

Hemmings’s own attachment with Hawaii is evident in these scenes,and the film perhaps slightly suffers because of it. The story of the land is sometimes a half-explained aside,even if it’s a part of the story of the man.

shalini.langer@expressindia.com