"The Descendants"

This is one heck of a film; glad I finally got around to seeing it.

A fine ensemble of actors, led, of course, by George Clooney who portrays a father/husband struggling to find himself in the midst of a chaotic family life, some of which is his own doing, and some of which belongs to his wife and her family. No truly bad guys or gals here, as is the case with most of life; just real folks trying to find their way through the fog of life, sometimes rising to the occasions of life with dignity and purpose ... other times, sinking into the mire of moral failure.

Clooney's daughters are remarkably portrayed by Shailene Woodley  (Alex) and Amara Miller (Scotty) - portraying, respectively, the confused and unsettling worlds of a privileged 17-year old and an uncertain 10-year old living in the shadow of her older sister, now in a private school.

All of them live in the shadow of the wife/mother, whom we never meet, other than in a few moments of an opening scene of her riding joyously at high speed on a powerboat in the blue waters of Hawaii. There's an accident, which we don't see, the result of which is a profound coma that can only end as it does: with the tubes pulled, organs donated, and her ashes committed to the sea. Throughout the story, the family spends their own time at the hospital, watching her machine-aided chest rise and fall, and then, the fateful day when the tubes are removed, and the wait for her demise. All of this is handled with great care, no melodrama, no over-wrought scenes; just the grinding down of body and soul by the shadow of death and all the unresolved sorrows that will go to her grave.

Throughout the film, it's a story of betrayal and secrets revealed.

A story of a father and his two daughters, in a profoundly difficult time, finding their way back together again as a family, and ultimately, some degrees of forgiveness and reconciliation ... in one of the most powerful and touching cinematic scenes EVER, Clooney says goodbye to Elizabeth.

Clooney is master actor, at the top of his game - his face a thousand different nuanced expressions ... his emotions powerfully restrained, even as he deals with unrelenting tragedy, while trying to hold his family and his business together. I hope he gets the Oscar nod for this one - well-deserved, for sure.

The "odd"music of Hawaii sets the tone for "paradise" - are you kidding? All of that beauty cannot mask or prevent the human drama, in all of its squalor and all of its hope. Life, even in paradise, is still life.

What is a family?
What is love?
What in the world is forgiveness?
And what is anger, and what to do with it?
And what does it mean to be a descendant of a great family?

A host of other actors give this movie a depth of characterization, without overwhelming the story.

A special word is deserved by Nick Krause, who portrays Alex's "boyfriend" - he captures all the snottiness of a privileged youth who deserves the smack that he gets from Clooney's father-in-law. Yet, in time, we discover Sid's own loss (his father died but recently), and by the end of the story, I found myself appreciating this bright young boy who simply had no social graces. A fine performance, for sure.

In the end, the pending death of Elizabeth sends all of them into a journey of painful questions and self-discovery, though I want to be clear - this is not a Dr. Phil psycho-babble trip, but a painful excursion into a malstrom of suffering.

Worth seeing?

For sure.

It's a fine film, powerful themes, masterfully presented.

In a theater - yup ... ya' wanna see George's face up close, and some of that gorgeous Hawaiian scenery, and if you love Hawaiian shirts, you'll love "The Descendants."

Up In the Air

I wrote the following to a friend:

Here's a man who does what he has to do, but does it with both efficiency and some compassion - he's not heartless, in my judgment, but has to steel himself in order to keep functioning. What else should he do?

It's a commentary, for sure, on systemic powers ... and how dehumanizing it is. That Clooney goes to his sister's wedding, takes the photos with their cardboard cutout, and actually goes to Chicago reveals the heart. That she's married, and he's back on the road reveals just how hard it is for everyone to break out of the mold we've all created, or the mold that's been created for us.

The young lady (Anna Kendrick) is, in my view of things, so typical of the young today - full of themselves, as Mary Pipher says of her youthful self in her book, "The Shelter of Each Other" ... and it's Clooney, however, who can see just how shallow she is, and on the road, she comes up against the reality of what they have to do, and when she hears of the lady who jumped and killed herself, she quits - her moment of redemption.

Clooney, if you will, sacrifices himself to save her. Clooney is lost up in the air; she, perhaps, will find her footing, or even her soul.

And he's off to do what he does best - and he does with as much as is possible, without self-destructing. Someone has to do it. And when all is said and done, he gives a round-the-world trip to his sister and her husband. What he can't do for himself, he at least can do for others. Another Christ-theme - "Come down from that cross and save yourself."

Clooney isn't interested in saving himself, but in some remarkable way, he's save the young lady from herself ... and discovered, perhaps, that his life is up in the air.

Clooney's boss, of course, reflecting the worst in corporate culture. The real people in the film reveal the devastation of job loss.

The moral themes of this film are oozing out all over the place. If anyone is lost here, it's Alex, played masterfully by Vera Farmiga.

The ending is real ... Clooney's character is what he is ... is there no grace for him? I think there is ...

This is a terrific film ... I've now seen it three times, and I've laughed and been moved each time.

Don't wait for Netflix; see it now.

Leatherheads

I really like George Clooney and I really like Renee Zellweger ... but ... this was only an okay movie, some funny moments ... clever story ... but it never really got off the ground.

Zellweger had a great part, and played it well - sharp-tongued and brash, full of spit and vinegar.

Clooney has the capacity to make fun of himself, but I wasn't quite sure where it was going to go. I've seen him funnier, and I've seen him play himself with a little more panache. Oh well.

Jonathan Pryce plaid a semi-scummy character, but lacked the sinister greed to make this character a bit more colorful.

A relatively minor role - the first football commissioner (Jack Thompson) had some character to it - tough and commanding, making it clear that he held all the cards in the new game.

Jonathan Krisinski did a fine job of playing Carter Rutherford, a Princeton grad and a "war hero" - with a story bigger than it was. This was a serious thread running through an otherwise comedic film. Krisinski handled it thoughtfully. We will see more of him.

Overall, I couldn't find enough energy in it.

Michael Clayton

"The truth can be adjusted," and what a price we all pay for it.

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen - in all respects ... acting, script, music, story, message.

Clooney is Oscar-caliber here ... a distracted father, a gambling addict, in debt to the mob for a failed restaurant, a "janitor" for a world-renown law firm. It's his job to clean up the mess, and no one can do it quite like Michael Clayton.

His good friend and fellow-attorney, one of the best and most ruthless, defending a huge agricultural conglomerate in a case against a product the company knows to be toxic, suddenly does the bizarre - in a hearing, he takes off his clothing and walks out of the room naked, declaring his love for one of the plaintiffs. Time for the janitor!

The story deepens and twists a thousands different ways ... the far-reaching influence of the powerful, the ruthless ambition of corporate heads, the dismissal of truth for profits, the do-anything mode of thought to survive, the simmering conscience that erupts in the strangest of ways, the remnants of compassion and decency lingering in our soul, and the enduring quality of truth.

A part of the Clooney-Soderbergh ouevre, along with The Good German (2006), Syriana and Good Night and Good Luck (2005), and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Michael Clayton explores the inner-workings of power, and the often tangled web of money and influence that takes governments and corporations, their leaders and their employees, down terrible paths.

Rated R - a tough and demanding film that exposes the raw nerve of power, and lifts up the possibility of redemption. A must-see film!