The Descendants - Family and Other Matters - Blu-ray

Film: After the huge success of Sideways in 2004, director Alexander Payne has been very quiet in recent years. Except for a segment in the episodic film Paris Je t`aime and an episode of the series Hung, which he produced, there has been no new directorial work from Payne. But now the director, acclaimed for films like About Schmidt and Election, makes an impressive return with the film adaptation of the novel The Descendants. Once again, Payne proves his flair for soulful stories, telling them with quirky comedy and completely cheesy emotion.

While Matt King (George Clooney) lives in Hawaii with his wife and two daughters, Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), his life isn't really paradise. As Matt throws himself more and more into his work, he becomes estranged not only from 17-year-old Alexandra, but also increasingly from his wife. When she falls into a coma after a speed-boating accident and has only a few days to live, Matt must try to prepare his daughters to say goodbye to their mother. At the same time, he must make the decision whether to sell his family's large estate to a wealthy investor. That really leaves little room to deal with any more problems. But then Matt learns that his wife has been having an affair. Suddenly his whole life is thrown off kilter, and as he and his daughters try to track down his wife's lover, he learns to appreciate the meaning of family in a whole new way...

As in Alexander Payne's earlier films, ordinary people are at the heart of the action in The Descendants. Matt King is not an over-stylized hero, not a caricature, but a very ordinary man desperately trying to make several important decisions at once to please his comatose wife, daughters and entire extended family alike. The story itself is rather dramatic, at times very sad stuff. But Payne does a first-rate job of serving it up with such a light hand that the audience is thoroughly entertained in the process. There are many moments of wonderfully whimsical comedy that never seem silly or over-the-top, making for extremely strong laughs.

George Clooney delivers a real tour de force in this tragicomedy. On the one hand he acts very humorous, on the other hand he is able to fully show his acting strength in the quiet and very dramatic moments. And maybe it's just this multi-faceted performance that makes Matt such a believable and lovable character. Now, with such a strong performance, there is often a danger that the supporting cast will be upstaged by it. But that is not the case here. Shailene Woodley, in particular, plays on a par with Clooney as 17-year-old daughter Alexandra, making her quite the discovery of this film.

Another important performer in the film is the Hawaii location. Alexander Payne has managed to not present the typical paradise image of the island nation, but instead show the many different facets of Hawaii and life there. Picturesque beaches and wonderful landscapes are juxtaposed with simple residential areas and grey city quarters. This creates a very special atmosphere in which the wonderful script, which Payne wrote together with Nat Faxon, can unfold perfectly.

The Descendants is a film about life and death, about family and inner peace. The fact that the whole thing is completely without the usual kitsch, does not hit the audience with the moral club, but is simply beautiful, funny and moving, makes the Golden Globe winner a real must for lovers of more sophisticated Hollywood cinema. Simply great and therefore also: absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The wonderful landscape shots of Hawaii shine on the Blu-Ray thanks to the high detail sharpness and the great color scheme in the almost perfect gloss. Interference and dirt you will not be able to find even with a magnifying glass. The sound also leaves a very positive impression. Even if the action remains rather unspectacular due to genre, music, dialogue and ambient sounds such as the rustling of the wind and sea come here wonderfully to the fore. Very good!

Extras: In terms of bonus material, this Blu-Ray can more than convince. In addition to several short cut scenes, each introduced by a text commentary by the director (approx. 6 min.), there are several short documentaries to be seen, which highlight various aspects of the filming with numerous interviews, footage from the shooting and the locations. These focus on lead actor George Clooney (approx. 7 mins), director Alexander Payne's methodology (approx. 13 mins), filming in Hawaii (approx. 17 mins), casting (approx. 8 mins), shooting at sea (approx. 11 mins) and waiting for the perfect light (approx. 3 mins). In addition, the true Descendants are introduced (approx. 12 min.) and three music videos with footage of life in Hawaii (approx. 10 min.) are also on the program. But that's not all: the Blu-Ray also features a historical silent film about Hawaii (approx. 10 min.) and an entertaining interview with George Clooney and Alexander Payne (12 min.), as well as the trailer for the film. Nearly two hours of thoroughly watchable extras - for that, a well-deserved: very good!

Conclusion: The Descendants is a wonderful tragicomedy that is a winner in every way thanks to the wonderful actors, the multi-faceted portrayal of Hawaii, the beautiful story, and Alexander Payne's very own cinematic language. The same goes for the Blu-ray, which is pleasing both in technical terms and in its extensive bonus material, which is well worth watching. All this makes this disc a real buy recommendation, in which especially friends of the more sophisticated American entertainment cinema will have great pleasure!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp