The Descendants

George Clooney stars in this film that is based on the book The Descendants,

and 'stars' is a word I would choose, because he just totally does. I thought his performance was dazzling. This is totally his movie. He was the greatest choice for the character of Matt King. His face is just perfect for this as so much is told in the character's face.

And, the state of Hawaii is just a beautiful place to make a film! Wow.

George, as Matt King, is married with two daughters, he's well off although he lives below his means and is criticized for that. He's in the middle of a family business deal, when his wife suffers an unfortunate accident and soon everything in his life becomes ~visible~, like it's being shined under a bright, bright light ... and he is not prepared for all that is revealed. He has to wing it, moment to moment. So much is riding on his reaction to what he begins to undercover.

It makes you wonder, how does one handle all that comes from seeing the bright light of truth shined upon the darkest parts of your life. The ones you push down, don't think about, leave for someone else, or just plain ignore, altogether. All I could think of was maybe he felt like he was climbing the outer earth sideways in reversed gravity.

The entire cast of this film is brilliant. I didn't know all these actors, but the new ones are incredible and the old ones are those dependable choices of actors who own their piece of the screen time.

I've never seen such a story. So, multi-layered. I am sad I missed the book.

Someone gave me the idea this is a comedy. No. It's not even really a drama. It is just a really great story and nothing I can say about will explain it as best could be explained.

This is one of the best films I have seen in a long, long while. It's about family, but not just about family, but the fact that you contribute to your family life even if you do nothing. It's about ownership of property, but not just property, but how ownership of property is real responsibility that can come with owning part of a history. It's about responsibility to things that went on before you existed and things that are to come long after you are gone. This is probably what hit me the hardest.

The Descendants is the best movie I have seen this year.