Film Critique 1
Schrita Scott
The Decedents
ENG225: Introduction to Film
Ashford University
December 17, 2013
Film Critique 2
The Decedents
The Descendants film is a story about a modern day family facing some real issues, some
of these issues many people does not even like to talk about. However, how we handle these
issues is what defines us. Let’s take a deeper look at this film through an analogical approach. I
will analyze the storytelling, acting, cinematography, editing, sound, style, and directing .
Within every movie always begins with a story (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011) and The Descendants is no exception. The Descendants movie is adapted from the 2009 novel written by Kaui Hart Hemmings. It is a romantic comedy that takes place on the islands of Oahu and Kauai in Hawaii. It follows Honolulu lawyer Matt King (George Clooney) as he responds to an array of very real problems. At first, it looks like The Descendants is a one-dimensional film on how families copes with loss, but it soon becomes clear that there is much more to the story. With the death of Matt’s wife, Elizabeth King (Patricia Hastie), he is soon faced with several conflicts which soon come to light.
Matt deals with multiple external conflicts throughout the film. After his wife’s accident, he sets off to reunite with his daughters. He soon realizes that reconnecting with his unruly younger daughter Scottie (Amara Miler) and self-destructive older daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) is not going to be as easy as he thought it would be. In the process of reuniting with his daughters, Matt finds out that his wife is having an affair behind his back. With this new knowledge, he sets off on a mission with the kids to track down and confront his wife’s lover.
Film Critique...