The Descendants is the new George Clooney film from the Director of About Schmidy, Sideways and Election. It did very well at the Golden Globes and is tipped to do very well at the Oscars as well, being second favourite to win Best Picture after The Artist. With all the hype around it I suspect it will do very well at the box office as well. I too sort of got caught up in all the hype for the film and my excitement for it grew the closer it came to release.
The story is a sad one, George Clooney plays a husband and father, whose wife hits her head in a boating accident and ends up in a coma. We are then told that she will never wake up from the coma and due to a living will she had drawn up will have the machines keeping her alive turned off. We then find out that she was having an affair before she fell into a coma. This all sounds pretty heavy and depressing no? Well It is, but the film, whilst dealing with these issues sensitively and appropriately, is also injected with some wonderful moments of humour courtesy of a dry and witty script. Clooney is no stranger to this sort of comedy, think Up In The Air, where humour was found in mass layoffs.
The story then revolves around Clooney telling his friends and family about his wifes condition, dealing with the conflicting emotions of her betrayal and her death rolled into one, and sets about trying to find the man who his wife was cheating on him with, to do what? He's not sure. It is still a very sad script, but don't get me wrong, this film will leave you feeling good. You won't leave with a big grin on your face, but you'll feel content when you leave. The main reason for this is the absolutely stunning performance that George Clooney gives. Many people have been talking about how un Clooney it is. That's rubbish, he's still charming, kind and warm, you just don't see him smiling quite so much. He becomes the character, the father to those children, and the most responsible member of his extended family (another plot point is a land sale that he and his cousins are trying to organise).
Another mention must go out to the soundtrack. The film is set in Hawaii, and one of the opening lines in the film talks about how people assume that life must be great because he lives in Hawaii, as though real life doesn't affect them somehow, but that it does. Well the soundtrack presents this idea wonderfully. It's all traditional sounding Hawaiian music, you've got your Ukulele's and what have you. But most of the tracks are also heartbreaking, with voices singing in Hawaiian that are truly beautiful. It really adds another wonderful layer to a really nice film.
So was this film the 'Best Picture' Of the year. No. There have been plenty of other amazing films this year which are technically better than this one. But like the Artist I don't think I'd be too upset if this won the Best Picture gong. I got very involved in the characters of the film, and I left wanting to watch it again. I confess that I will watch anything with George Clooney in it as I think he's a fantastic screen actor, but whilst he shows just how good an actor he is in this film, it is a film that is more than simply him. It's a wonderful tale of tough decisions and life lessons.
No comments:
Post a Comment