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."
