Directed by: Alexander Payne
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges,
Robert Forster, Matthew Lillard
Review: Death in the
family is a precarious situation.
Speaking even more specifically, a death within an immediate family is even
more delicate. From the moment the title
card breaks, this is the situation the King family finds itself in. The matriarch of the family was tossed off a
speed boat, hit her head, and now finds herself teetering on the brink of death
being kept alive mostly by machines.
Naturally, any situation like this will send ripples through
a family. With the King family,
patriarch Matt (Clooney) finds himself in a situation he is all together much
too unfamiliar with. Beyond his wife being
in dire straights, he now has to keep watch over his two kids, whom he isn’t
that close with. Matt is a high powered
lawyer in the state of Hawai’i and hasn’t had that much time to be a family
man. Seeing his wife in such a
predicament, Matt has vowed to change those ways.
Trying to re-ignite the relationship with his children
proves to be more challenging that he was prepared for. Years of being the so-called “back up parent”
has led to him having not much more than a passing role in their lives. His kids look upon him mostly as a caretaker
in this time of need. His youngest child
only seems to want to talk about all the things she’s going to do with her
mother once she wakes up.
It’s an interesting paradigm. Often times when someone spends the majority
of their time working, they justify it by saying it’s for their family. It’s a rude awakening to realize that what
might have been best for the family would be to actually be there for
them. Matt’s oldest daughter has drug
and drinking problems. His wife had
drinking issues and an aversion to the ‘daredevil’ lifestyle before her
accident. His youngest daughter
seemingly doesn’t recognize him as an authority figure. As the “back up parent” he only comes in and
provides fun. This leads to his daughter
viewing him, not as a parent, but as a “fun uncle” or something of that sort.
This isn’t even the biggest of all the changes. When the doctor tells Matt his wife will not
wake up, he is crushed. Making matters
worse, he finds out shortly after that she was cheating on him. Not only that, but he was apparently the only
person who didn’t know about it.
His years of constant working and fastidious living led his
wife astray. He promised things would
change when she woke, but he won’t have that chance now. His decisions have been made and now he must
live with them.
Complicating all of this even further is Matt’s current
family situation. As descendants of the
Hawai’in king Kamehameha, Matt’s family owns a plot of gorgeous land on the
Oahu coast. Due to complicated legal
reasons, the family will have to sell the land which is largely unused. The people buying it will turn it into
spectacular resorts and golf courses.
Matt’s family is inherently tied to this land and has been for
generations. Once this plot is sold,
that connection will have been severed.
This sub plot seems as though it may be distracting, but
serves to underplay the larger issues brilliantly. Ultimately, Matt’s story is about
connections. Those made, those had, and
those lost. He has a connection to his
land. He had a connection to his wife. Over time, he has lost the connection to his
spouse and family.
The delayed death of his wife via coma, has given Matt a
pause to his life. Now, he has the
ability to think about the connections he has in his life like never
before. Family has established a new
importance to him. He can’t just buy
their happiness, he must be their happiness.
Family is not something you can pick up and drop off, it permeates your
existence.
It took his wife’s coma and death for Matt to realize
this. His connections are what define
him. His wife was running around on him
because he lost his definition. Clooney’s
Matt goes around his life with a look of surprise at everything. He is completely lost in his own world. Thinking he had a grip on his reality, Matt
no longer knows what his life is. The
performance is nothing short of brilliant.
Although not a huge fan of the style of Alexander Payne, his
writing and directing here is top notch.
The writing is sharp, but not unrealistic. His control over his actors and their
situations is outstanding, truly a phenomenal job here. This may just be the best film of the year.
This is definitely worth your time.
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