Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Descendants (2011) - Payne and Clooney score with a Hawaiian story of heartbreak, loss and family

5/11/2015

The Descendants (2011) - Payne and Clooney score with a Hawaiian story of heartbreak, loss and family

♥♥♥♥♥♥

3 Time Film Excess Award Winner:

Best Film
Best Non-adult Actor: Amara Miller
Best Cinematography: Phedon Papamichael

6 Time Film Excess nominee:

Best Film (won)
Best Screenplay: Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne, Jim Rash (lost to Rory Stewart Kinnear, Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin)
Best Director: Alexander Payne (lost to Agnieszka Holland for In Darkness)
Best Actor: George Clooney (lost to Jack Black for Bernie)
Best Non-adult Actor: Amara Miller (won)
Best Cinematography: Phedon Papamichael (won)

+ Best Movie of the Year
+ Best Dramedy of the Year
+ Best Hawaii Movie of the Year

Star George Clooney and some Hawaiian ambiance on the poster for Alexander Payne's The Descendants

Matt King is a big landowner in Hawaii, whose wife gets into a boating accident that leaves her in a coma. It turns out SPOILER that she was cheating on him. And that she is now dying. With two difficult daughters and an unrelated, hard decision to make, Matt has a lot on his plate.

George Clooney (Up in the Air (2009)) is outstanding as Matt King, his probably best role to date, and he gets impressive co-actors here in Shailene Woodley (The Fault in Our Stars (2014)) and Amara Miller (A Merry Christmas Miracle (2014)) as his daughters, as well as great performances from veterans Beau Bridges (Night Crossing (1982)) and Robert Forster (Jackie Brown (1997)).
They all come together in master filmmaker, co-writer-director Alexander Payne's (Citizen Ruth (1996)) adaptation of Hawaiian writer Kaui Hart Hemmings' (The Possibilities (2014)) 2007 novel, written with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Way Way Back (2013), both). Their well-written, smart dramedy script won Descendants its only Oscar (out of 5 nominations).
The film's balance is more drama than comedy; it abounds with touching moments, fine, subtle photography by great cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Sideways (2004)), lots of great original Hawaiian music and exciting Hawaiian locations.
The Descendants has more heart and more meanings than Payne's best film before this, Sideways. It is painfully good and full of humanity, formidable in every way, a masterpiece and certainly among the year's best films.
Payne is not out of the bushes with another project yet to follow his great Nebraska (2013).

Related posts:

Alexander Payne: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Nebraska (2013) or, Father and Son
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
About Schmidt (2002) or, Dear Ndugu ...

George Clooney, Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller all give resounding performances in Alexander Payne's The Descendants

Watch the unfortunately not very good official trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 177.2 mil. $
= Big hit
[Descendants became a sleeper hit in the US, where it racked up 82.6 mil. $ (47 % of the total gross) in its 156 days long run. It was received with enthusiasm by public and critics alike in many countries, making it onto many top 10 lists of 2011.]

What do you think of The Descendants?
What is your favorite Payne film?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

5/11/2015

The Descendants (2011) - Payne and Clooney score with a Hawaiian story of heartbreak, loss and family

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