Review of The Descendants (2011) by Oliver E — 19 Mar 2013

Nothing gives me more pleasure than to welcome a new film by the gifted writer-director Alexander Payne, especially as The Descendants, his first movie since Sideways eight years ago, is so good, and in so many ways.

Payne knows the difference between lightness and frivolity, between seriousness and solemnity, between different kinds of cloud. Even minor characters who appear only briefly â" such as Matt's stern, judgmental father-in-law (Robert Forster) and his boozy, sybaritic cousin (Beau Bridges) â" are given moral depth and ambiguity. The daughters act and interact well, coming to terms with themselves, their father and mother with angry or amused understanding and without a trace of bland sentimentality.