12.06.18 | The Descendants

The Descendants
Alexander Payne’s follow-up film to Sideways is another brilliant character study, starring George Clooney with a breakthrough performance by Shailene Woodley.

Curator's Statement: Just when we thought Alexander Payne had reached the pinnacle of his perceptive powers with Sideways, he made this brilliant, insightful film about family, life, love and mortality, capturing the unpredictable messiness of life with eloquence and uncommon grace.  George Clooney gives perhaps his most nuanced performance to date, while Shaileen Woodley put herself on the map with a brilliant turn as a young teenager on the cusp of womanhood.

Synopsis:Set in the lush paradise of the Hawaiian Islands, The Descendants is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney) an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family's land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries. --