Living the Romantic Comedy: The Surprise of Being Human

I loved The Descendants, but the weird thing is, when I think about the movie, I can't remember a line of dialogue, or even a particular shot. What I remember are the feelings.

I often think of movies as vehicles we use for having our emotions, and in this regard, Descendants is a certain kind of great ride: small and unassuming, a little slow to get into full gear, but handling so smoothly that you don't even realize how fast you're going, then opening up, going full-throttle, and... get out your handkerchiefs, people - you've arrived at an exquisite devastation-destination.

The studio's trying to pitch it as a comedy, but that's not really the deal. Not as quirky and hilarious as Sideways, or sharp-barbed like Election, Alexander Payne's latest feels more akin to About Schmidt in this writer-director's oeuvre. It has some great laughs, sure, but it reaches you in a more somber place, deeper than mere melancholia and as profound as any adult's honest contemplation of mortality.

Don't let that scare you off. It's a sneakily accessible movie and it sets off the best kind of depth charges in your consciousness; days later, I still find myself thinking about the characters, and wondering about them the way one wonders about people you know. Which brings me to a point that's directed at the writers and screenwriters in the room.

We always hear that defining a protagonist, getting specific about his or her goal, back story, and most significant distinctive characteristic is a primary concern, and that's certainly true. But the best people - the most compelling, moving humans, on the page or off - are fascinating because they surprise us. They disarm us because their inner lives are at times at odds with their outer appearances and behavior. They're more complicated than they look.

That's The Decendants' brilliance in a nutshell. Not a single character in the movie, be they lead, support, or brief cameo, is exactly who they seem to be. Every prominent character takes a turn that makes us see them in a different light, and a few of them keep turning - revealing more feelings, thoughts, and points of view than we'd have expected.

What this does, in terms of its effect on a viewer, is enforce a suspension of judgment. And isn't that a beautiful thing? We can't just write a given person off. We can't form a fixed opinion of someone and hold onto it for long. Instead, we're seduced into simply looking at a character, looking really carefully, and listening with special attention. More often than not, we recognize something specific and true, and we connect.

Payne, here collaborating with Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, has always specialized in adaptation (the source novel is by Kaui Hart Hemmings), which may account for what feels like a novelist's love of nuance in his movies. And he's come up with a fantastic cast (aided by John Jackson, C.S.A.) that's alive to every bit of dramatic/comedic potential in a given moment.

Shailene Woodley, who plays the George Clooney character's older daughter, is clearly an actress we'll be seeing more of in the years to come. Apparently Payne saw hundreds of actors before he found Amara Miller to play her younger sister, and his patience paid off; Nick Krause as Woodley's sort-of boyfriend is another great fresh face to contemplate. It's wonderful to see Judy Greer do more than play second banana to a rom-com heroine, and Beau Bridges is a joy in a small, pivotal role. Meanwhile Mr. Clooney does some of his best, most vulnerable work to date. His awesome good looks get subsumed in a role that makes "the star" disappear, and he's got a scene in the back end that floored me with its quiet, pained simplicity.

The Descendants is an object lesson in how to let your characters and your audience have their feelings. And it surprises us in articulating a truth we ought to know, but tend to forget - that each of us can't just be one thing. We're multitudinous, y'know - it's the human way to be.

Comments

That blasted movie made me cry! Like three times! In the theater! I thought I was going to see a comedy!

Seriously, it was great. I enjoyed it so much. I concur with everything you say.

Posted by: Christina | December 10, 2011 at 12:00 PM

You sold me, Billy. I was on the edge of wanting/waiting for DVD release of "The Descendants." Now I wanna see this movie -- because of your post!

HUGE fan of anything Judy Greer.

I really like that nugget of gold you through in their too about how grafting suprises into your main characters fosters a spirit of suspension of judgement. NOW if we could all just pull this off like Alexander Payne does...

O well, time to clean up. Gotta brave the malls and get my Christmass shopping in. Been working 10-12 hours everyday for the past 20 days straight.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

Posted by: E.C. Henry | December 10, 2011 at 12:52 PM