This movie is jammed with stuff to talk about. Having said that, one of my hopes as I write this blog is to give my readers a snap shot of a movie rather than a novel. This is probably informed by my busy life as a father and husband, but I think the length of my entries is a plus because it gives my readers a chance to read my entries in a short sitting. Forgive me if I go too long on this one, but there is a lot to say.
in order to keep myself at bay, I want to focus on three things that stood out to me about this movie:
1) The Setting. This move could have been set nowhere else. Hawaii plays such an integral in the movie, that this movie could not have been shot elsewhere. The opening monologue sets that tone, as it ponders what it is like to live all the time in the place that most people consider a paradise. As it turns out, Hawaii and its citizens have just as many problems as anyone else. Also, a key part of the plot of the film involves the fact that Matt (George Clooney) is the trustee of an enormous piece of land, and he has to decide whether to sell it or not so that he and his family can make millions. The music in the film is also almost totally Hawaiian, so the film drips with Hawaii and its ethos. Most films set in Hawaii focus on the beach and the romanticized ideals of the place. This film gives us real life in that place.
2) The performance of George Clooney. George Clooney has made a couple of great decisions lately. It began with his work in "Up in the Air." Let's face it...George Clooney is the essence of cool. He is a good looking guy, he seems charming, and the roles he takes often reflect that. However, in recent films he has begun to chip away at that image. In "Up in the Air", he begins the film a man totally in control. He is cool, unattached, and bedding women at an alarming rate. At the end of the movie, his life is in disarray. His very existence is in question. This movie represents a step farther away from the classic Clooney persona. To quote my wife, "It's tough to make George Clooney look dorky, but he does it in this movie." As usual, my wife is right on the money. Here, Clooney plays Matt, a man detached. He has lost his wife to a boating accident. While she lies in the hospital in a coma, he is left to pick up the pieces that is his family. He has maintained a large distance from his two daughters by burying himself in his work, and his wife's demise forces him to deal with that. He finds out that his wife had been having an affair, but the viewer never really suspects that he has been unfaithful. Instead, he simply seems out of touch, and his older daughter is angry with him for that. As Matt's wife drifts deeper into a coma, he begins to share the news of her demise with her loved ones. As they come to say their goodbye, it is clear that he is coming to grips with his failures as a husband and a father.
3) The theme of masculinity (SPOILER ALERT). The last image of the movie is the most important one of the movie. The movie seems to be focused on what it means for Matt to be a man, and what he has to do to repair the relationships that he has broken. These themes could be present without the theme of exploration of masculinity. That's where the final image comes in. After Matt and his two daughters have scattered his wife's ashes in the Pacific ocean, they go home. As the final shot begins, Matt's younger daughter Scottie is sitting on the couch watching television. As we hear the voice on the screen, it becomes clear that she is watching the film "March of the Penguins" as we hear the comforting rhythms of Morgan Freeman's narration. As the scene goes on, both Matt and the older daughter Alexandra join Scottie on the couch. They all snuggle up on the couch with ice cream underneath an orange hibiscus blanket and watch the movie together. There are three things to note in this scene that, to me, define the whole film. First, it is the first scene in which all three members of this nuclear family are sitting together alone and in harmony. Second, the orange quilt that they are using was the same quilt that covered their wife/mother on her death bed. The symbolism here of the three of them finally coming together underneath their mother's/wife's blanket after her death is poignant. Third, and most important, they are watching "March of the Penguins." For those of you who have not seen "March of the Penguins", one of the major themes of that film is the unique role that penguin males have in the protection of the eggs of baby penguins. As they watch this movie, could the movie be saying that Matt has a unique role as a man in the protection and nurturing of his daughters? Could he just now be beginning a more profound relationship with these two young ladies? Better late than never.
Alexander Payne's films are profound and complicated. The ones I have seen portray people with difficult lives. The question becomes how they handle the difficulty. In "Sideways", I found the overall reactions of the characters to be unsatisfying, though the film was entertaining and well made. Here, the truths to be found are profound. As Matt deals with such heavy issues, he learns something about himself and about the women in his life. When he asks the question, "What is it that makes the women in my life destroy themselves?", we know the answer, and we are pretty sure he knows the answer too. As a father of one daughter, how can I both shelter her from the dangers of the world but prepare her to walk on her own one day? These are profound reflections. The reason this movie works so well is that it provokes this kind of questions in the viewer.
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