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Review: The Descendants

It’s been seven years since Alexander Payne served up his brilliantly, bittersweet Sidewaysand now he’s back with another offering The Descendants. It’s come to UK cinemas on the back of a wave of praise from our American cousins and for the most part it lives up to the hype.

George Clooney plays Matt King, a Hawaiian lawyer whose wife goes into a coma after a boating accident. With his wife out of the picture it’s up to him, the self-confessed ‘back-up parent’, to try and pull his family together and connect with his two daughters. On top of this he also has a decision to make. Due to a law change a huge area of land that has been held by the Kings for generations has to be sold and Matt has the final decision.

The film’s story is wonderfully written. Payne has a way of starting out with a simple premise and ratcheting up the complexity without making it feel forced or contrived. The dialogue is nice too, swaying perfectly from drama to comedy and back again, although there are a few moments when it was a bit too snappy for me to believe.

At the centre of the film is Clooney giving a fantastic performance. With all the Oscar buzz around it I was expecting a ‘big’ performance and it’s the exact opposite. It’s a terrifically low-key character study that seems better the more I think about it, and importantly you don’t spend the film thinking you’re watching George Clooney (perhaps the best compliment that can be given to a movie star of his stature). The supporting cast isn’t overshadowed though, with good performances all round and a particularly fab turn from Robert Forster as Matt’s father-in-law.

Maybe though the best performance comes from Hawaii itself. Every aspect of the film. from the soundtrack to the characters, is infused with the island’s culture and history, and the film’s tremendous sense of place means that characters and dialogue that would otherwise be jarring seem to fit this island paradise. Oh, and it’s beautiful to boot.

The Descendants is a lovely film about loss, family and the ties between our history and our land. It hits a few bum notes that can suck you out of the groove but a superb second half makes it well worth watching.

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