When I first heard that the new Alexander Payne movie would screen at AFF, I nearly flipped. Starting with his film ELECTION and continuing with follow ups ABOUT SCHMIDT and SIDEWAYS, I became an ardent admirer of his filmmaking as well his taste in excellent stories. THE DESCENDANTS, like his last three films, is based an a novel. Payne usually selects genuine, true to life stories on which to base his films and his latest is no exception.
Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, Payne and his co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash tell the story of Matt King (George Clooney) and what becomes probably his most difficult time in his life. King, a successful attorney, has been coping with not only the emotion issues, but also the legal ones associated with having a spouse in a coma. His wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) suffers a traumatic injury in a motor boat accident and her prognosis is terrible. At the same time, Matt has to juggle his responsibilities of his wife's care along with raising his daughters Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alexandra (Shailene Woodley). Finally, Matt, whose family sits on a prime piece of real estate in Hawaii, has to make an important decision regarding its sale.
While I didn't like this movie as much as his past two films (SIDEWAYS, ABOUT SCHMIDT), Payne still made an wonderful picture. He and his writers in his films have the profound talent to take often sad and depressing situations and highlighting the humorous, but real moments that can happen. As usual, he and his casting department assemble a wonderful cast to flesh out the characters beautifully. My only gripe with this film would be a small predictability factor regarding the subplot involving the property sale. The end result of that part of the story is pretty transparent. Still, this one criticism doesn't take much away from my enjoyment of the movie. I must highly encourage fans of Alexander Payne to go see this movie when it opens in theaters later this year.
DESCENDANTS actor and Georgetown native, Nick Krause attended the screening at the Paramount theater and did a brief Q & A following the movie. Krause, who plays Alexandra's friend Sid, has a hilarious part in the film. His facial expressions alone made me laugh hard. Krause seemed to really enjoy working with Payne who took the cast to Hawaii to spend some time preparing for the shoot. This helped Krause get into character as he observed the teenagers who live there and also got a tan to look the part. The preparation definitely worked as Krause often steals the show, even from Clooney.
Mark Saldana
The Movie Doc
No comments:
Post a Comment