Creating a poster for any film by the very talented Alexander Payne (one of the best filmmakers of his generation and director of “Election”, “About Schmidt” and “Sideways”) can be very tricky. His films are sharp and filled with mixed emotions. The Descendants (2011) is no exception. It is a very quiet and sensitive portrayal of one’s “Alpha and Omega”. We are engaged in the character’s devastation. We feel his pain and yet we see our eccentricities in each of the other characters. We laugh (I was the only one laughing in many scenes, hahaha!) with the movie and yet we know that after the laughter, reality kicks us really hard.

The Descendants is Clooney’s best performance to date (my argument is nailed by one major scene). Goodbye suave moves and narcissistic smiles. This is Clooney as Matt King, a Hawaii-based lawyer whose life gets entangled by a barrage of problems requiring him to make life-changing decisions. It sounds like a simple and predictable movie. But actually, it is. But this one has a bite. It’s funny, sensitive, thoughtful, very well acted (as in all Payne movies) and moving. It’s also one of the best films of 2011.

Once again, if you claim to like good movies and you fail to watch this on the big screen, you are a bogus. =)