Following the struggles and hardships that Matt King, a young intelligent native islander, who enjoys his life with his lovely family in Hawaii, but upon a violent accident that leads his wife to get in a coma, everything changes, as he has to balance between his personal and professional life and help his children to cope with the idea of their mother's possible death.
The challenge in describing the film is that it doesn't neatly fit into any pigeonhole. It's a serious movie that happens to have a sense of humor, because Payne and his collaborators see the absurdity in everyday existence.
The Descendants is an exercise in why women are such horrible, despicable shrews. When this film isn't demonising its female characters for daring to be unhappy in their marriage, it's condescending them for showing too much emotion...
Director Alexander Payne is a master storyteller of the huge life transition. 'Sideways' is one stellar example, 'About Schmidt', another. 'Descendants' easily rivals 'Sideways.'
Clooney and Payne share an uncanny knack for that wistful smile in the face of havoc; for conveying the peace that comes from having lived a life, from having seen disasters come and go, and from knowing that, one way or another, this too shall pass.
