THE DESCENDANTS
As I said in my original brief review the use of voiceover at the beginning of this movie is a lousy device. But as I start to think poetically in order to write my first top 10 film essay, I am beginning to forgive this inconsistent narrator that hovers over the first third of Alexander Payne's latest film, only to disappear as the strength of the characters and the performances carry the story to its conclusion. Without the voiceover, it honestly might have been difficult to explain the context of the complex real estate transaction subplot that is essential to the movie's powerful climax.
This movie is about loss, but also what makeshift emotional tools there are out there to cope with loss. Sometimes spirituality serves as a form of escapism from devastating losses, or other secular settings provide the right physical environment to contemplate the bigger picture. Several of Hawaii's islands are the setting of The Descendants, and this tropical utopia serves as a blessing and a curse, as the environment shapes an understanding of these character's contentment, but also makes the sadness of their situation more dissonant. In the cold Midwest its always interesting to see how seemingly perfect natural places are depicted as something other than a place to get away from mundane misery. The quick visit to Hawaii in Punch-Drunk Love for example seemed odd because the weird main characters didn't seem that phased by the awesome beaches they were surrounded by. On a more darker level, the beautifully shot landscapes of Brokeback Mountain, which in any other movie or nature documentary might symbolize the grandest of Creation, becomes a slowly mocking symbol of the increasingly confined (yet physically vast) world that these characters have to occupy to express themselves.
In The Descendants, the intangible and overpowering forces of paradise and beauty are relentlessly fighting against narrow-minded and petty attitudes. The Descendants is not a naive movie though... it doesn't suggest that time heals all wounds and that eventually you can move on from pain. Rather, I think it confirms with peaceful clarity that when someone or something is gone, it is very permanent in a very real way, and that jealousy and bitterness can not hold out indefinitely against an acceptance that circumstances have irreversibly changed. The Hawaiian setting provides that extra visual reminder that there is beauty in the world beyond personal emotions and hangups. Something can be taken, and eventually you can only hold on to that beauty, and appreciating only the best memories of that person. But after that loss, there's also a coda to that pain and acceptance, and that is the nagging sense that your own life (which you are fortunate enough to continue to enjoy) now needs to mean something a little more.
The Descendants navigates this nuanced emotional territory very well. Yeah, there's some clumsy moments with characters but gradually the movie begins to tell the complicated stories it needs to tell with images and raw emotions alone.
OSCAR NOMINATIONS TOMORROW!
This movie is about loss, but also what makeshift emotional tools there are out there to cope with loss. Sometimes spirituality serves as a form of escapism from devastating losses, or other secular settings provide the right physical environment to contemplate the bigger picture. Several of Hawaii's islands are the setting of The Descendants, and this tropical utopia serves as a blessing and a curse, as the environment shapes an understanding of these character's contentment, but also makes the sadness of their situation more dissonant. In the cold Midwest its always interesting to see how seemingly perfect natural places are depicted as something other than a place to get away from mundane misery. The quick visit to Hawaii in Punch-Drunk Love for example seemed odd because the weird main characters didn't seem that phased by the awesome beaches they were surrounded by. On a more darker level, the beautifully shot landscapes of Brokeback Mountain, which in any other movie or nature documentary might symbolize the grandest of Creation, becomes a slowly mocking symbol of the increasingly confined (yet physically vast) world that these characters have to occupy to express themselves.
In The Descendants, the intangible and overpowering forces of paradise and beauty are relentlessly fighting against narrow-minded and petty attitudes. The Descendants is not a naive movie though... it doesn't suggest that time heals all wounds and that eventually you can move on from pain. Rather, I think it confirms with peaceful clarity that when someone or something is gone, it is very permanent in a very real way, and that jealousy and bitterness can not hold out indefinitely against an acceptance that circumstances have irreversibly changed. The Hawaiian setting provides that extra visual reminder that there is beauty in the world beyond personal emotions and hangups. Something can be taken, and eventually you can only hold on to that beauty, and appreciating only the best memories of that person. But after that loss, there's also a coda to that pain and acceptance, and that is the nagging sense that your own life (which you are fortunate enough to continue to enjoy) now needs to mean something a little more.
The Descendants navigates this nuanced emotional territory very well. Yeah, there's some clumsy moments with characters but gradually the movie begins to tell the complicated stories it needs to tell with images and raw emotions alone.
OSCAR NOMINATIONS TOMORROW!
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