The Descendants: Crisis in Paradise

The Descendants

Directed By: Alexander Payne

Written By: Alexander Payne, Jim Rash, and Nat Faxon, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Starring George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Matthew Lillard, and Judy Greer

Director of Photography: Phedon Papamichael, Editor: Kevin Tent, Production Designer: Jane Ann Stewart

Rated: R for naughty language, often coming out of the most unexpected places.

Clouds always seem to hang over the luscious sky in The Descendants, the first feature length film from Alexander Payne since his wine-country comedy Sideways. The film, set in Hawaii, is full of gorgeous sun-soaked beaches and tropical landscapes, but those clouds always seem to hang a shadow in the land. It seems apt then that our protagonist, Matt King, calls out the absurdity of the island’s image of the land of perpetual happiness. “Paradise can go fuck itself,” he exclaims in the opening voiceover.

           The Descendants is a very reserved and often fascinating maturation for the director of usually much more bizarre comedies like About Schmidt and Election. The film, which stars George Clooney among a cast of character actors and breakout unknowns, is a much more nuanced work with melancholic tones, following a man who must come to terms with his identity as a father and a husband. Payne garnered an early reputation as an over-the-top satirist, but he’s always but much better observer of the human emotions that bubble under the surface. The film, adapted from the novel by Kuai Hart Hemmings, may feel like treading along easy territory as it wanders through its loose plot. But as a visual stylist (his best effort yet as a director), Payne presents a slow transition of forgiveness through a portrait of an American family, coming to learn what that word really means.

New York Film Festival: Alexander Payne's The Descendants (Closing Night Selection)

The Descendants (Closing Night Selection)

A Film By Alexander Payne

United States

            Clouds always seem to hang over the sky in The Descendants, the first feature length film from Alexander Payne since his wine-country comedy Sideways. The film, set in Hawaii, is full of gorgeous sun-soaked beaches and tropical landscapes, but those clouds always seem to hang a shadow in the land. It seems apt then that our protagonist, Matt King, calls out the absurdity of the island as a place only of happiness. “Paradise can go fuck itself,” he exclaims in a voiceover.

           The Descendants is a reserved and fascinating maturation for the director of usually much more bizarre comedies like About Schmidt and Election. The film, which stars George Clooney among a cast of character actors and breakout unknowns, is a much more nuanced work with melancholic tones as a man has to come to terms with his identity as a father and a husband. On the surface, and through the way that Mr. Payne adapts the narrative from the novel by Kuai Hart Hemmings, it feels like Mr. Payne is treading on easy territory. But the film is all in the details, and especially Mr. Payne’s direction of the film, as it presents a slow transition of forgiveness through a portrait of an American family, coming to learn what that word really means.

The Ides of March: A Primary Fable

The Ides of March

Directed By: George Clooney

Written By: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willmon, based on the play “Farragut North” by Willmon

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Evan Rachel Wood, Marissa Tomei, Jeffery Wright, Max Minghella, and Jennifer Ehle.

Director of Photography: Phedon Papmichael, Editor: Stephen Mirrione, Production Designer: Sharon Seymour, Original Music: Alexandre Desplat

Rated: R for the things politicians say off camera

            You can tell a lot about the different tone being set by The Ides of March from the play that inspired it, Farragut North, by just examining the titles. The original play, a sparse Mametesque back room politics piece, has a title that refers to the subway stop in Washington DC where all the big lobbyist and consulting firms have their offices on K Street, which is where politicians go to die when they never make it to Capital Hill. But in George Clooney’s take on the material, we instead have a more metaphorical title, one that dates back multiple millennia in politics. We essentially have a fable.

            And it is this sort of morality tale that Mr. Clooney, not only playing an Obama-esque politician (one that remained off stage in the play) but also writing and directing, wishes to tell. Mr. Clooney may be one of the biggest actors still today, but his craft as a director of cinema has become more refined with each film. He seems to dig into these old genres and stories that cold have easily been made in eras previous, doing little to update them, but make the movies he wants to see. Thus, The Ides of March is an often gorgeously crafted examination of the dirty little schemes that hide under the skin of every politician.