Descending.... Into Greatness....

    I read Roger Eberts review of Cameron Crowe's "We Brought A Zoo"
and  he was thinking out loud as to why The Descendants works better
than that particular film.  I think I can answer that.  The Descendants isn't
looking for easy answers.   That's been the problem with Cameron Crowe
since Say Anything, the fact his films always want to wrap up everything
with a pretty little bow.  Crowe's films are too tidy for my money.  Then there's
writer director Alexander Payne and his film, The Descendants.  Like his
brilliant film Sideways, The Descendants is to smart and to self aware to simply
be just another tidy melodrama.  In the hands of a lesser writer/director
The Descendants would've become yet another sappy melodrama.  What
I like about The Descendants is the fact that there are no good people and no
bad people.  What writer director Alexander Payne has given us is a strong
collection of fully dimensional characters who are all victims of their own
hang ups and or indiscretions.  This is a wonderful film that has no interest
in taking sides.  No, Alexander Payne's screenplay is fascinated with the where's
and the why's of love gone astray, of people in love suddenly becoming parallel to
one another.  It's easy to assign the Clooney character a white hat as the long suffering
husband.  It's easy to cast Matt's wife, Elizabeth, (Elizabeth Banks) as the heavy
and the source of Matt's woe.  This is a film that is fascinated as to how its characters
ended up where they are.  In my view, this makes The Descendants
one of the best films of the year.  That and the performance of George Clooney
as bewildered family man Matt King.  People are talking up Micheal Fassenbender
for best actor for Shame but I truly believe that Clooney deserves the honor and I'll tell
you why.  Clooney has a much more complex role.  Matt King is passive, Matt is
a man who enjoys living his assigned role.  It is Matt's passive nature that makes
him blind to his surroundings.  I know what you're thinking; this character
can't possibly win the audience over.  In Clooney's hands though, there is so much
access and so much strength within this character.  It is Clooney's calmness and grace
that allows the audience to stick with Matt,  flawed as he may be.  There's a humanity
to Clooney's  performance that is both fascinating and almost effortless.  Think about this.
If Clooney fails, the movie fails along with him.  If anything, Clooney's performance in
The Descendants proves that he's an actor of immense talent when he's not playing politics
to the point of distraction.  I can see why writer/director Alexander Payne chose him for
this role.  Payne likes his actors to say everything without saying anything at all; see
Paul Giamatti's crash and burn towards the end of Sideways.  I love the moment when
Matt confronts his wife's lover, (Matthew Lilliard.)   Matt is finally ready to release all
the venom within him, he's ready to strike out.  And then, with one nugget of dialogue,
there is a rather profound moment of clarity in which Matt unexpectedly discovers something
about his wife.  I read one review where someone criticized the screenplay for not
having Matt thunder away at the Lilliard character after the fact.  To this reviewer, I say
this.  You missed the point completely.  That moment between Clooney and Lilliard
isn't about anger.  It's about revelation and clarity and self discovery.  How can Matt
hate his wife after he makes this discovery, however unintended?  He can't.
In that moment, everything is illuminated for both Matt and the audience.

  Plot:  Matt King (George Clooney) has just found out that his wife, who was about
to divorce him, is brain dead after a boating accident.  Not only does Matt have
to break the news to his kids about their mothers impending death, he has to weigh
the pros and cons of a lucrative land deal that could net he and his extended
family millions.  As Matt discovers the exact root of his wife's infidelity
and the circumstances behind it, he decides to take a long look at his life
and the choices that he's made.  I'll stop there, you can decipher the rest of the
plot on your own.

  I've been throwing roses at Clooney but I think most of the cast of The Descendants
deserves praise.   You can start with Robert Forester, who plays Matt's father in
law.  This is another role that can turn one dimensional in the hands of a lesser actor.
Thankfully, Forester brings a semblance of humanity to a role that is mostly
repressed venom lingering beneath the surface.  More props go out to Beau Bridges
as uncle LU.  Bridges' character looks a like beach bum but he is anything but.
Watch the way he talks to Matt when Matt seeks out his counsel.  Thanks
to Bridges, good Uncle Lu becomes a multifaceted character who is so good
at playing coy and so good at saying one thing while meaning another. 
But the biggest kudos of all go to writer director Alexander Payne.
Payne's screenplay shines with heart and authenticity.  I love the scenes in the
hospital room; the awkwardness, the swirling of emotions, the unleashing,
however unintentional, of old gripes and hurts and misunderstandings.  Like I said
before, writer director Alexander Payne isn't looking to put a ribbon on things. 
He's looking for the where's and the why's.  Payne is looking for answers
far below the surface.  Do yourself a favor.  Spend the price of a ticket on
The Descendants  Don't pay for mass market schmaltz like "We Bought A Zoo."
Don't see a studio movie.  Trust me, you'll thank me later.