TIFF 2011 Review: The Descendants

Venue: Elgin Theatre (Visa Screening Room)
Programme Type: Special Presentation
Directed by Alexander Payne
Screenplay by Payne, Jim Rash and Nat Foxon, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings.
Running Time: 115 minutes (1h, 55 mins.)
Rated R (for language including some sexual references).
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures

In a career that spans almost twenty years, The Descendants is Alexander Payne's fifth film. After the critical, commercial and Oscar-winning success of Sideways in 2004, I was starting to wonder how come it was taking so long for him to make another film. I guess he was just taking a break and a long one at that. I know that he was working on a draft of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry with his writing partner Jim Taylor, but then Adam Sandler came in and started, in Payne's words, "sandlerizing" the script and along with Taylor, he produced this year's Cedar Rapids. But now we come to this film, which happened to premiere at one of the most popular film festivals in the world. Mr. Payne, it's good to have you back.

The film stars George Clooney as Matt King, a land baron and the head of an Hawaiian family with many descendants, which of course is where the film's title is taken from. His wife, Elizabeth, is suffering a coma due to a boating accident and the doctors tell him that there's no way that she'll come back from it. This is a way for him to re-connect with his two daughters: 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller), who first meet when she's picked up from school and 17-year-old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), who returns home from boarding school. When Matt tells Alexandra the bad news about her mother, she doesn't seem to care, due to her and Elizabeth arguing over Christmas. Matt didn't know what the argument was about, until now. Alexandra tells him that they were arguing due to the fact that Elizabeth was having an affair with another man. Now, Matt is trying to find the man she was sleeping with while at the same time trying to figure out what to do with their last piece of land.

Like I said before, it's good to have Alexander Payne back in the game and it's clear that his talent hasn't slowed down at all, even after a seven-year hiatus. He brings us a movie that explores the relationships between the family and makes it hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. Payne takes the setting of the film and clearly states in the script that Hawaii isn't paradise. While I'm on the subject of the script, I also want to make a quick mention that one of the writers of the film, Jim Rash, is known best as Dean on Community. That's a surprise. George Clooney's character says, "Paradise can go f%$k itself", one of the lines that stayed with me throughout the screening. Speaking of Clooney, his performance is great and I would rank it one of his best. Payne stated at the Q&A that Clooney was the actor he had in mind when the script was being written. Clooney could get an Oscar nomination for this.

Some of his shine, though, is stolen by the young actors in the film. Many of the great scenes come from Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller and Nick Krause, all of whom were there at the Q&A. Woodley has obviously played a teenager before, all thanks to that crappy pregnancy show, The Secret Life of The American Teenager, but unlike that show, she truly embodies the actions of a teenage person. Basically her performance is surprisingly excellent. One of the scenes that stayed with me is where her character is told that her mother will die and she cries. In the pool. With that, she has the chance of getting an Oscar nom. Then we have Miller, who makes her screen debut. She's good here too. But the one who really has a breakout role is Krause, who plays Sid, Alexandra's friend. His lines range from "Sup, bro" to "I didn't know old people hit like that" to even talking about his mentally challenged brother.

Sid is kinda stupid, but he shows a smart side as well. I think Krause is one of the best things to come out of this entire film. Oscar, pay attention to him too. There are also some fine performances that come from Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard and Beau Bridges. Phedon Papamichael is the cinematographer behind this film and he renders the Hawaiian landscapes and mountains wonderfully. Papamichael last collaborated with Payne on Sideways and he did a great job there. Its Hawaiian-like score also stayed with me, long after I left the theatre.

The Descendants is definitely one of my favourite films this year. It's an intelligent portrait of a man and his not-so-perfect family that's often funny and often sad. Judging by the long standing ovation, it's very clear that Alexander Payne, Fox Searchlight, the cast and the rest of the crew truly have an Oscar contender on their hands. I give the film **** (4 stars).

If you weren't there at the premiere, don't worry. It's not too late. The film will screen again at the Elgin Theatre on Saturday, September 17th at 11:00 am. The festival runs all the way to September 18th. The film hits regular theatres November 18th in a limited release. Hopefully if it's marketed right, audiences who weren't at TIFF will check it out, so it can expand to more theatres. So if you're one who doesn't plan to see the latest Twilight flick or a sequel to a film with CGI penguins who sing and dance, then I suggest you choose The Descendants. I highly recommend it.

Here's the trailer. Basically it's a taste of just what you can expect: