The Descendant (2007) User Reviews

Some good, a lot of bad

[MoonsofJupiter · 4/10 · 8 February 2009]

I really wanted to like this movie. I saw it in a community hall with the director present. Most of it was filmed in my town. Philippe Spurrell's intention was commendable, which he stated was to educate people on the history of blacks in Canada. But you've got to be entertaining and coherent.

Here's what went wrong: first and most glaringly, the era. It's insane that anyone could have crazy white people holding colonies of black slaves in a farm shed in 1968. The fictional town of Ste-Harmonie is a short bus ride from Montreal, not a remote jungle village accessible only by footpath. It just made everything fall apart. And why invent a story that never happened and present it as a history lesson? Isn't there enough real history to explore? I can think of a dozen ways to tell this story that wouldn't have elicited laughs or groans.

Then there were odd anachronisms like James not having a cell phone in 2006. He has to use the old rotary dial phone in a bar. Guess what? People in the country have cordless phones just like city folk. And the bus! There are no buses from Montreal to rural towns and there haven't been for at least 30 years. It's as if the director is lost in a Green Acres time warp.

To give the movie its due, the look of it was very nice with great outdoor cinematography and realistic props. I understand it was made for practically nothing, which would preclude re-shoots and even dialogue rewrites. And though most of the cast was on the wooden side, the lead actor was pretty decent.

To be honest, in the end I rather enjoyed watching most of The Descendant, though I couldn't admire it. There's talent there, as yet very raw but probably worth developing. Give this man some money, a good script, good actors and I'm sure he has a career ahead of him.

Let's call this movie growing pains and wait for the next one.

At times Hilariously bad but not without charm

[wilhelm-22 · 2/10 · 27 September 2008]

I just watched "The Descendant" on the opening night in Montreal. I have very mixed feelings about this film. The cinematography in this film isn't bad, although it suffers from being shot on video. The story is unusual and kept me interested until the tasteless twist at the end (more about that later). The film has a unique flavor to it. The setting & the props are very effective in creating a certain mood and the set designer has paid lots of attention to detail. Unfortunately, there are other aspects of the movie that are not equally impressing. The acting is overall terrible (the middle-aged lady in the bar and the bartender are the 2 exceptions). All actors play on different levels: from extreme overacting (the evil old man) to extreme under-acting (the young main character). This inconsistency leads to the fact that none of the characters seem believable The editing is terrible, sometimes it's so confused that scenes that are meant to be realistic appear as psychedelic dream scenes. There are many superfluous "horror" montages/flashes that have little to do with the story and just distracts the viewer. The continuity is awful too, the script girl must have been out of coffee during the shoot if they even had one. There are especially many mistakes where the characters seem to look beside each other instead of at each other, due to badly matched camera angles. There are many details in the storyline that are confusing. Why is the main character so keen on walking around in the corn fields, when each time he does so he gets caught by bear traps? Why doesn't the old couple react at all when the guy brings out their music box to the garden and starts playing loud music in the middle of the night? I like the fact that this film avoids unnecessary gore, but sometimes it just becomes a little bit too child friendly. In one scene a woman and her dog are being ambushed by 4 villains in the woods. The villains surround her, carrying big knives and baseball bats. The camera turns away, we hear the woman scream and the dog cry, and we are certain that they are meeting a horrific death. But a few scenes later they reappear. The lady's' hairdo is a bit messed up and the dog has a band aid on the knee, apart from that they seem to be healthy & happy!

Despite, or maybe because of all this, I actually found the movie very charming and quite intriguing. Until the end, where the film all of a sudden brings up a new theme: it comments on the Canadian history of slavery and the inhuman treatment of black slaves at "Nigger Rock". This is a dark and until recently hidden part of Canadian history. Of course this is a very important subject to bring up, but not in the context of this kind of a horror movie. It's just not the right forum for discussing such a serious topic that involves so much real human suffering.

haunting and beautifully filmed

[humbug-19 · 7/10 · 12 January 2007]

Having seen a wide selection of lower budget films in my movie watching career, rarely have I seen one so well filmed and acted. The intriguing plot, kept me guessing right until the final scene. The quality of the filming and almost timelessness of the sets, created, in parts, an ethereal quality which made the supernatural element of the film all the more haunting. The characters,especially Mr. Duke (who made me feel very uneasy throughout the film),successfully convinced me of a stifled secret, which when revealed was genuinely shocking. More shocking though is the fact that the story is based on a little known part of Canada's past that would surprise viewers both Canadian and otherwise.

Ungh...

[pdm22 · 1/10 · 23 October 2008]

This is the first time I've ever written in these comments - I just wanted to warm someone else before they lose an hour and a half of their life.

A cheap budget does not forgive a HORRIBLE script or amateur acting and directing. I watched it last night and was mislead by some reviews to believe that this film had some interesting elements. It does not.

It was the worst film I have ever seen in a theater. The audience laughed out loud at ever plot twist and cheesy one-liner. It was not supposed to be a comedy.

There were so many laughable moments that I can only touch on a few. #1 - It insinuates that there were slaves in rural Quebec (*The English part?) in 1968 that were killed by these crazy villages who kept their skin... on a blanket? #2 - There are so many red herrings that the twist at the end is just a laugh (undead slaves walking out of the cornfield). #3 - The directing and editing is so bizarre at times that it removes the viewer from the film. #4 - the moral ended with 3 pages of text to shove the history of slaves down the throats of the viewers - is more of an insult to those who died than anything else.

There is so many more problems with this script / film - I just don't have the time. I just hope this saves one person from the pain I endured.

This film should never have attempted to associate with their memory.

Eerie and memorable

[andybigbloke · 7/10 · 6 January 2007]

Having been addicted to films for some 30 years I am just as happy watching something made for £1M or £100M , but I don't expect them to be the same. I only expect them to be interesting The concept and realisation of the Descendant along with the strange and ,to me, previously unknown subject matter made the film compelling. The tension that develops between the fey protagonist (James) from the modern world and the serious reserved characters James discovers in his family's past is very well played in large part and I had a growing feeling of discomfort as the film progressed. Horror films that develop discomfort from the milieu (The Wicker Man)rather than with bloodied bodies and slick CGI ( Nightwatch )seem to stick longer in the memory and this is one of the former.

laughing where they shouldn't

[arcoiris17 · 3/10 · 11 November 2006]

This film has great intentions but fails in areas too major to ignore: acting and script. When I saw it at a film festival, the audience repeatedly laughed at the corny lines ("I can't believe I just witnessed that.") and overwrought, one-dimensional acting. The director apparently told his cast to look menacing, and oh, did they look menacing. The actress who played James' girlfriend was so awful that I felt embarrassed for her. Some of the "horror" elements were amateurish and silly, again eliciting uncomfortable giggles. The cinematography is beautiful but often not in sync with the theme (such as a character gliding through golden cornfields). Too bad, because the basic story is fascinating.

A thinking man's horror film

[dwmh · 8/10 · 22 March 2007]

In a way, it's a bit misleading to label this a horror film. I'd say it's more a suspense film with horror elements. If you go in expecting lots of explicit gore, this isn't the film for you. But if you're looking for an intelligent, thought provoking film that will keep you on the edge of your seat while it's on and stay in your mind for days afterward, I'd recommend checking this one out. If there was a film I'd compare it to, it would be the original Wicker Man. It has the same plot structure of an outsider arriving in a small community and creating suspense through the gradual revealing of the local secret. One difference is that this film's story is inspired by a true (and conveniently forgotten) incident in Canadian history which will be a real surprise to many viewers.

I don't want to overpraise the film. Obviously, it's not at the same level as the original Wicker Man (though it's miles better than the remake). But for a first film made on a tiny budget, it's quite an achievement by the director. The lead actor is a little weak, but the rest of the cast is first rate, and the villains come off better in these films anyway. The editing and photography are better than many films made with many times the budget and really help to draw you into the story. I saw this at a festival showing where the audience was completely caught up in the film (and laughed in all the right places) and gave the director, who was there, a big hand at the end.

A well made suspense film with a message

[samsamfraser · 8/10 · 24 May 2007]

The Descendant is a tense and surprising film about a part of Canadian history few people know about. It is not gory or superficial, but instead deals with a topic never before considered in Canadian film. It's supported by the familiar pattern of a suspense plot: a young man from Montreal goes to his grandparents' farm in rural Quebec to learn more about his mother's life, but discovers unpleasant truths about his family and the history of the area.

I've seen the film twice, once at the Fantasia Film Festival, and once at a screening at the National Film Board. One viewing is sufficient to get the basic story, but the film is subtle enough to reward another. Director Philippe Spurrell has included interesting camera shots and soundtrack motifs, along with great music found on old 78 records, to satisfy a critical audience. The actors portraying the aging villains are especially enjoyable to watch, with their sidelong glances and raised clenched fists.

The Descendant is good not only because of its tactful presentation of a shameful part of Canadian history, but also because it is a well made, well paced suspense film.

Exceedingly well done.

[Nakedlunchcjlo · 8/10 · 20 November 2008]

Philippe Spurrell's feature debut is an intriguing story revolving around a small community and its shared secret past history, and how an outsider pushes those secrets to the surface for all to see.

Since the film does rely on the element of surprise for it to work as a mystery, I will not be too explicit on the story itself, but will concentrate on the crafting of the film.

I saw this shot-on-35mm film digitally projected in a setting that did not in any way detract from the lush images on the screen.

The story begins in Montreal with the main protagonist, James, finding a few details of his past via an old shoebox, left to him by his mother, full of old photographs and birthday cards from his grand-parents whom he had no contact with since he was 3 years old. His partner, Kim, suggests that he should go and visit them to re-establish contact with his past, and possibly find answers to the reasons his mother exiled herself from her family.

When James reaches the small isolated community of St-Harmonie, Quebec, he finds himself warmly welcomed by an old friend of his Mother's, but looked on with suspicion by others in the local bar.

James meets up with his Grand-Parents at their farm, and intends to stay for a few days. He proceeds to unearth stories about his Mother's past, and finds deep secrets that the community collectively keeps buried deep in their history.

The film makes for a very good mystery, and succeeds on many other levels as well; but to reveal those would be to give too much away.

The cinematography by Lorenzo Negri and Ivan Gekoff (CSC) is quite sumptuous and serves the story well. The muted colours and close attention to the surface details and textures of the surroundings is very reminiscent of Kim Ki-Duk's "The Isle" (the look of the farmhouse and the wood specifically).

The art direction, the costumes that were created for the inhabitants of the little community literally transports the viewer in a past era; trucks and vehicles being the only details of a vague contemporary setting once James is at the farm.

There are fabulous shots over the farm's windswept cornfields that beg the question of how they were achieved with such a small budget (I did not want to ask the question of how they did it in order to maintain the illusion in my mind).

The actors delivered very convincing performances that at first glance appear off-kilter, but as the film progresses, you realize how true they are for the characters involved; I would say almost Lynchian in subtlety (especially the grand-father played by Jim Reid).

The sound design by Dan Lagacé and music by David Kristian are absolutely outstanding; he does not overwhelm you with recognizable themes, and the background sound effects are so subtle that they induce the mohawk effect (as one of "The Exorcist"'s sound designers was referring to his own sound work was meant to achieve in that film); the hair at the back of the neck definitely rises.

For a film that was shot over the span of 5 years on a shoestring budget, the continuity is spot on and doesn't betray the lack of funds.

Philippe Spurrell has really achieved a great deal with this film which is garnering interest across a broad spectrum of History and Film scholars, and the public at large.

The story explores a little known part of our local history, and makes a strong case for re-examining it in greater detail so that future generations realize how similar we (as a nation) were to our American neighbors.

The filmmakers should congratulate themselves on a job exceedingly well done. I strongly urge the public to go and see this film wherever possible; one of the best Quebec English Canadian films (yes they are distinct from the rest of English Canadian films) I've seen in a long while.

Great Indie surprise

[x_imdb-456 · 9/10 · 3 January 2008]

These sorts of indie films are either hit or miss, especially when little is known about the film from a lack of costly pre-hype publicity. So, for me, this taut little drama was a brilliant surprise. The film doesn't rely on clichés and in fact seems to steer clear of them. The pacing drew me in alongside James, the main protagonist (played convincingly by talented newcomer Tadhg McMahon). We are only as aware as he is of the unfolding truth and we react as he does with curiosity, surprise and ultimately, horror. I was riveted from start to finish accompanied by a well-crafted soundtrack along the way. Can't wait to see what this director has in store for us next!

Surprising, genuine, eerie... worth checking out!

[poison_ivy723 · 8/10 · 2 July 2010]

I honestly did not know what to expect when I watched The Descendant; I'd seen the trailer many times, but nobody told me exactly what it was about. I'm glad I didn't know because the film kept me guessing until the end!

I must say I was fairly intrigued by the premise, especially knowing that the film revealed a 'hidden' part of Quebec's history. (I won't spoil it for you!) I was shocked by this revelation and it added a whole other dimension to my way of thinking about the past. The story demonstrates a thorough research of the topic and is backed by a solid art direction that gives it all its credibility. I must also add, from the point of view of someone who often visited family members in remote villages, that the attention to details in the props and set design is simply splendid. Through his writing and his directing, Philippe Spurrell managed to effectively convey the intricate feelings an outsider encounters in such towns.

Now on to the movie; this is a slow paced piece, but it never feels long. I wouldn't call it a horror film – which seems to be one of the reasons some viewers have a negative opinion of the film – so don't build your expectations that way. It does however have a few genuinely creepy moments that are very effective by taking many of the characteristics of rural Quebec and making them uncanny.

At first the story seemed predictable, but about 30 minutes in, it went in the opposite direction of what I was expecting. All the theories I had from the start were disproved and I did not guess where it was heading. I simply enjoyed the ride and let the ending surprise me.

It is a solid first film that clearly demonstrates the director's mastery of storytelling; every scene and detail adds a layer to the mystery and is there for a reason. The acting sometimes feels a bit stiff or off, but doesn't detract from the compelling whole. This is a character piece that offers a fresh new take on a classic story/sub-genre that has been drained to death. It is sure to surprise Quebecers, but can as easily be enjoyed by anyone. I strongly recommend it and I'll be looking forward to Philippe Spurrell's next project.