México en el Oscar 2012

Demián Bichir y Emmanuel Lubezki nominados al Óscar - Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía, Imcine

The Descendants: When life gives you a beating in the middle of paradise

Details and main cast

Title: The Descendants

Director: Alexander Payne

Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash and Jim Taylor, based on the novel “The Descendants”, by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Country: USA

Year: 2011

Genre: Drama

Cast: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Beau Bridges and Robert Forster

Rated: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hrs.15 min.

By Igmar P. / Café Cinéfilo

The Summary. A family man, who lives in Hawaii and doesn’t get along too well with his two daughters, is suddenly overwhelmed by life itself, when he is forced to resolve his family issues at the same time he is supposed to make a crucial business decision, all the while he is dealing with the tragic situation of his wife, who is in a coma following a boating accident in “The Descendants”.    

“The Descendants” is the most recent motion picture of filmmaker Alexander Payne, who also directed the comedy/drama films “About Schmidt” (2002) and “Sideways” (2004). 

Movie poster of "The Descendants"

Matt King (George Clooney) is a real estate lawyer who lives in Oahu, Hawaii, a city surrounded by paradise where he has his home, is married and is the father of a 17-year-old somewhat rebellious girl named Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), and also of a precocious 10-year-old named Scottie (Amara Miller).

Matt King lives a very satisfying life and prides himself of being very comfortable with what he has, even though his financial status would allow him and his family to have so much more. In one of the film’s best dialogues, when Matt is narrating his background, he explains that he avoids giving his girls everything they ask for so not to spoil them; instead he “gives them enough for them to do something, but not too much so they don't do nothing”.      

But what Matt probably neglected in giving his daughters is sufficient parenthood and attention so as to be able to satisfyingly connect with them, when the family is suddenly thrust into a tragedy: His wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), who is the mother of both of Matt’s daughters, fell into a coma after she hit her head in a boating accident.  

As weeks go by, the condition of Elizabeth does not improve, on the contrary, it worsens with the passing of each day. The medical prognosis is not good and the doctors assure Matt that pretty soon he will have to make the hard decision to disconnect her wife from the machines that are giving her artificial life. Such action will honor Elizabeth wish, made well before the accident, of not being held on life support if she ever were to fall in such state.     

And if this weren’t trouble enough, the aforementioned tragedy appears in Matt’s life, just as he was about to make a crucial business decision, one that involves selling or not selling a vast extension of land that he, along with several of his cousins, own in one of the most beautiful parts of the island. 

Although when it comes to the raising of his daughters, Matt considers himself to be the “back-up parent”, he decides to spend more time with them than at the office during the course of this difficult situation, with the hope of preparing them for the inevitable –and soon to occur- decease of their mother. 

At the beginning Matt has some trouble getting Scottie to listen to him. Following the hospitalization of her mother, Scottie becomes disobedient and rude with her fellow classmates.

But then Matt finds more trouble reconnecting with Alex, when he learns that Alex and Elizabeth stopped talking to each other following a heated argument, which happened days before the accident.

Unbeknownst to Matt, the reason to why his wife and daughter argued so heatedly before, will be an unexpected revelation that will make even more difficult the situation of letting her wife die, and it will also change significantly the life of both Matt and his family.    

The review

With “The Descendants”, once again Alexander Payne achieved a movie of immeasurable human value, with the same cinematic quality as that of “About Schmidt” and “Sideways”.  

Book cover of "The Descendants"

In “The Descendants”, Payne uses the paradisiacal background of Hawaii in a clever way, as the drama of the story unfolds with equal doses of laughs and tears. It is every bit as heartwarming as it is funny.

Part of the sad-funny duality of the film has to do with the way the characters live their lives on the island, which unavoidably “gets in the way” in situations that would otherwise, because of their seriousness, would be immensely melodramatic. 

Take for example one of the best scenes of the movie, when Matt finds out about a painful secret of his wife, something she did before the accident and which happens to be the reason she and her daughter Alex argued.

When Matt learns about this secret, he immediately gets out of the house and starts running towards his friends’ house, a couple of blocks away on a downhill street. 

Since at that precise moment Matt is wearing sandals (which is the footwear favored by most of the characters in the whole movie), he can barely run fast while the soles of his sandals make a loud and repetitive noise all the way.

Visibly angry and outraged, Matt runs in an awkward manner, with his sandals making a noisy scandal all the way down the street, an image that brings certain comedy to a very serious situation.   

The cast is another one of the film’s most strong points. Everyone in this picture is excellent, most notably Shailene Woodley, who gives a remarkable performance. Woodley first shows us Alex as the typical rebellious young girl, who sneaks out of her dorm room at her expensive school to go out drinking with her friends.

But then Matt comes along with the sad news about her mother’s condition. She takes the news not so good and before she begins to cry, she submerges herself into the swimming pool at her house, where she bursts into tears that mix with the water that engulfs her.  

Not long after that, Alex starts to be more supportive with her father. When Matt decides to take a trip to another island in Hawaii, Alex becomes a sort of “comrade in arms” to Matt, helping him in his quest to let friends and relatives know of Elizabeth’s condition so that they may have a chance to say goodbye to her.

And then of course, there is George Clooney, who once again brings a memorable performance to the big screen. Clooney gives us in his portrayal of Matt King his most human character yet, a middle-aged father with a good heart as well as flaws; a man who can make a surprising business decision that takes his cousins off-guard, but a parent who also doesn’t know what to do when his 10-year-old daughter Scottie, reveals to him and Alex while watching TV together, that her friend likes to watch porn movies when her parents are not at home.    

The human element in this film, Payne’s excellent direction and strong performances by a superbly chosen cast make “The Descendants” one of the best movies of 2011.  

Rating: * * * *

Hugo: El niño huérfano y el enigma del autómata olvidado

Ficha técnica

Título: “Hugo” (“La Invención de Hugo Cabret”)

Dirección: Martin Scorsese

Guión: John Logan, basado en el libro infantil “La Invención de Hugo Cabret”, de Brian Selznick

País: Estados Unidos

Año: 2011

Género: Aventuras / Drama

Elenco: Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen McCrory y Jude Law

Clasificación: Para niños y adultos

Duración: 2 horas

Por Igmar P. / Café Cinéfilo

La sinopsis: Un intrépido niño huérfano, de nombre Hugo, tendrá la más inolvidable y significativa aventura de su vida, al tratar de descubrir el secreto que comparten un misterioso autómata inservible y un callado y temperamental reparador de juguetes, en una ajetreada estación de trenes de París, Francia, en 1930.

Póster cinematográfico de "Hugo"

En París, a principios de la década de 1930, un inquieto y curioso niño llamado Hugo Cabret, quien por circunstancias del destino ha quedado huérfano, vive a escondidas en una enorme y siempre abarrotada estación de trenes, entre túneles y pasillos de trabajo de ese lugar, en donde a su vez arregla y mantiene en buen funcionamiento los relojes de la terminal. Mientras reside en un oculto apartamento destinado para los trabajadores de la estación, Hugo sobrevive robándose uno que otro pan de los repartidores de alimentos de los diferentes locales de la terminal. Soñador y siempre vigilante del trajín diario de ese enorme lugar, Hugo vive aferrado a los felices recuerdos de su padre, un eficiente relojero, quien un día llegó a casa con un autómata reluciente que rescató del abandono, de un museo de la ciudad. Hugo y su padre pasaron horas arreglando ese autómata, con el objetivo de descubrir sus secretos. A la muerte inesperada y repentina de su padre, Hugo continúa trabajando en el misterioso autómata, al cual le repone las partes con piezas que él acostumbra a robar de un local de reparación de relojes y juguetes mecánicos. Ese local es atendido por su dueño, Georges, un avejentado y por demás callado señor, quien un día logra pillar al joven Hugo justo cuando robaba unas pequeñas piezas de su tienda. Al regañarlo y obligarlo a que vacíe sus bolsillos, Georges descubre entre las pertenencias de Hugo un pequeño cuaderno empastado, repleto de anotaciones y dibujos, el cual al instante arranca suspiros melancólicos del viejo reparador. Con el semblante notablemente cambiado, Georges le exige a Hugo que le revele de dónde sacó ese cuadernillo. Hugo le asegura que es de él. Enfurecido, Georges corre a Hugo de su tienda y lo amenaza con entregarlo al cruel oficial de la Policía de la estación, si lo vuelve a ver cerca de su local. Es entonces cuando Hugo emprende una osada misión por recuperar su cuadernillo, ayudado por la joven nieta del reparador, una niña amante de los libros y de palabras nuevas, llamada Isabelle, y juntos vivirán una inolvidable aventura llena de magia, al descubrir el secreto que comparten el reservado reparador juguetes y el misterioso autómata encontrado por el padre de Hugo. 

La crítica: Dirigida de manera magistral por Martin Scorsese (“Taxi Driver”, “Toro Salvaje”, “Buenos Muchachos”, “Los Infiltrados”), y con un guión escrito por John Logan (“El Gladiador”), basado en el libro gráfico e infantil “La Invención de Hugo Cabret”, de Brian Selznick, “Hugo” es una excelente película que logra revivir la magia del cine, por medio de una aventura llena de peligros que viven dos niños decididos a resolver un misterio.

Un segundo póster del filme

El joven Asa Butterfield, quien actuó en la excelente película dramática sobre la 2da Guerra Mundial “El Niño de la Pijama de Rayas”, hace ahora una actuación memorable y conmovedora como Hugo Cabret, un niño determinado a descifrar el mensaje que (él está convencido), le dejó de manera póstuma su padre, entre las poleas y el complicado mecanismo interno del autómata.

Ben Kingsley también conmueve como el abuelo Georges, cuyo misterioso pasado le provoca tanta amargura y dolor que está empeñado a no repasar jamás las viejas páginas de su vida.

Estas dos almas atormentadas se encuentran y se ayudan, gracias al descubrimiento de una enigmática reliquia que sugiere una relación con los inicios de la cinematografía.

Cargada con deslumbrantes efectos especiales, “Hugo” se suma a la filmografía del director Scorsese, cuya extensa obra fílmica está en su mayor parte conformada por películas de mafiosos y personajes sórdidos y violentos, por lo que ahora se antoja como una refrescante novedad, que haya dirigido una cinta ampliamente recomendable para toda la familia.

El lente de Scorsese recorre de manera asombrosa a la ciudad parisina y a los interiores cavernosos de la enorme terminal de trenes de los 1930’s, la cual sugiere ser la Estación de Montparnasse, aunque en la película nunca queda claro si se trata precisamente de tal estación.

La dirección de Scorsese es tal que los espectadores pueden disfrutar de esta cinta tanto en su versión digital como en su versión en 3-D (tercera dimensión), ya que su historia es tan interesante y envolvente que en cualquier formato atrapa la vista de los espectadores.        

Calificación: * * * *