I love a good character study, but sometimes I have problems with indies too. Mostly, my issue is that most indie directors don't know how to point a camera, or edit a film. I find myself watching (for the hundredth time) a still, wide shot of an outdoor location (cue the melancholy guitar and/or piano) while the main character walks from one side of the frame... all the way over to the other side of the frame. This I'm left to assume is character development. It makes me crazy. The Kids are All Right and The Descendents are a step above that sort of indie film making, though Your Sister's Sister could comfortably sit in that category.
I didn't really like Kids or Sister, but both of them have their merits. The actors in these two movies are all top notch. I went into them with such high expectations because I adore the casts of both movies, and there were plenty of well-acted scenes for me to watch. But both movies stumbled... hard for me during their climax and resolution. I didn't buy the ending of either one.
Now, The Descendents, I loved! It was all in the presentation for me. It was about a detached man who had to reconnect with the people (and places) in his life in order to make two very important decisions. And reconnecting with his daughters and his island, invited back into his life all of the funny, tragic, and ultimately messy, emotions this guy wasn't dealing with. What I loved about it was how the tone of the movie went on a similar journey with the character. I loved that some of the comedy was incidental and seemed to come at the audience sideways, while some of it was as blatant and as obvious as a pratfall. The movie swung from comedy to tragedy, and absurdity to aching sincerity, very easily, and I loved every minute of it.
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Boing_Boing
11 years ago
I have to say that's the best defense of The Descendants I've seen on IMDb. Most people say something along the lines of "Go back to Transformers," which fails to convince me. But as much as I appreciate your points, I couldn't help but be distracted by the cliches (particularly Clooney staring off into the distance thoughtfully while he's deciding if he should sell the land), corny lines, soap opera situations, and, especially, cut-out and unbelievable characters.
And I, too, have a problem with that shot where a character simply walks from the left to the right. There is a shot in the movie Nowhere Boy (which I absolutely recommend) which plays on the cliche: the main character, John Lennon, walks from the right to the left, emphasizing the idea that he doesn't know where he's going in life. But yes, most directors who try this technique fail spectacularly at conveying anything human.
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