Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Descendants

George Clooney's in a perfect storm again -- but this time a domestic one.  His wife's in a coma, forcing him to become primary parent to his daughters, including his rebellious teen; his wife was in fact cheating on him before her accident; and he has to decide whether to sell pristine ancestral Hawaiian land to real-estate developers.

The film is surprisingly intelligent and humane for mainstream Hollywood fare, and no doubt will be an Oscar contender etc.  But maybe that is why some of its flaws are just a tad bit more obvious.  The first is that the Clooney character is supposed to be a workaholic, an indifferent husband and father before his wife's accident -- but we never get to see that, only hear about it.  Thus we catch him only on the upswing, as he does an amazing job with his crises and emerges heroic and whole.   Much has been made in the press of Clooney foregoing his star appeal and glamour to play against type -- but in fact, there is little risk taken here.  He always looks like George Clooney, and wins in the end.

More fundamentally, his daughters capitulate to him far too easily, with his teen (Shailene Woodley) rapidly becoming his confidante and partner in crime; it's here that the film comes closest to being a Lifetime after-school special.

And finally, like all movies of this type, Hawaii is in the end just gorgeous backdrop.  There is a crucial issue at stake -- a white descendant of Hawaiian monarchy has to decide whether or not to sell a piece of paradise.  He makes the right choice, and utters a couple of politically-correct sentences; but there is little else of Hawaii here -- few, if any, Hawaiian actors or language, and little hint of the Hawaii beyond the tourist view.

A good script, good acting, good direction, but in the end not filling.
3*
Dec 2011     

2 comments:

  1. Ah, but, Ravi, George's character and the relatives are not white descendants of Hawaiian monarchy. They are a mix of Hawaiian, white/haole, thanks to the missionary and Hawaiian royal who married. A few generations later, there is probably even more of a mix of other cultures in the movie's characters.

    I've lived in Hawaii for 30+ years, and watch everything that comes along about Hawaii or filmed in Hawaii. The Descendants is the most true to life depiction of Hawaii, for a very well off family.

    The only real jarring part of the movie was Sid, the "surfer dude" (who hasn't ever surfed--he lifts weights--he doesn't have the surfer back). After his appearance though, he character is dialed back, thankfully.

    Friends here have all said it's seamlessly Hawaii. No Hawaii 5-0 characters, no horrible pidgin English attempts...

    As for George Clooney not being "Hawaiian" enough, we have a friend who is a spitting image of George. He's 1/8th Hawaiian.

    It's the nuances. The movie makers did a good job of capturing the Hawaii-born author's story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Diane...
      Many thanks for your detailed comments! You make good points.

      I think I was mixing up the race issues with the class issues. I read Lois-Ann Yamanaka's novel "Blu's Hanging" some time ago and that depicted a very different side of Hawai'i, somethng very far from the existence of the upper class characters in the film. But as you point out, they are authentically Hawai'ian too.

      Also I missed the surfer back (or lack thereof :) ) of Sid.

      Thanks again for your perspective -- it adds to my understanding of the film a lot.

      Delete