Nov. 30, 2011 - Issue #841: Merry movie night
The Descendants
Paradise lost
Striking island vistas give way to bitter truths and one-sided conversations in non-descript rooms. Midwesterner Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, Sideways) is working in a slightly more serious, nearly soap-operatic, environment than usual. But the script sails around stormy clichés and overstated emotion. Matt's a bit stunted and cut-off, a little unaware of just how much he can rely on his haole (white-descent) money. The relationship between Matt and Alexandra, his eldest, grows ever so slightly. And what The Descendants dwells on, better than any film in years, is how, just beneath the surface of that teenager who seems a shrugging idiot or that woman who seems an everyday mom, rustles an undergrowth of pain, or loss, or heartache. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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