Director Alexander Payne has been quiet for several years, his last film being Sideways in 2004. Is he subscribing to the Stanley Kubrick and Terrence Malick philosophy of film-making, which basically states that you do absolutely nothing for years, then return with a masterpiece so that anyone who might forget is soon reminded how good you are? Payne certainly has some way to go before he can be mentioned in the same breath as those two greats. However, he is building an impressive body of work – Sideways we've mentioned already, but there's also About Schmidt, Election, Citizen Ruth…. and now The Descendants. A striking filmography by anyone's standards.

A middle-aged woman skims across the sea in a motor boat, hair billowing behind her, laughing joyously. The very next scene finds the same woman comatose on a hospital bed, face bruised and swollen, tubes protruding from all over her body. Her husband Matt King (George Clooney) stands over her, grimly contemplating his lot in life. "Paradise?" he grunts bitterly. "Paradise can go f@ck itself!" Gradually, we learn that Matt is a wealthy lawyer who, due to a quirk of history, is the sole trustee of a sizable stretch of virgin Hawaiian coast. Despite his wealth, his relationship with his wife and kids has grown increasingly remote. Now, her coma forces Matt to confront issues he has been hiding from for years. He suddenly finds himself responsible for ten year-old daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) and 17 year-old tearaway Alex (Shailene Woodley). On top of that is the fact that the whole family are due to meet imminently to discuss what to do with their piece of paradise. And as if that isn't enough, Matt finds himself on the receiving end of the ultimate bombshell - when Alex tells him she recently caught mom having an affair.

The entire film is about Matt's long journey to resolution – how he resolves his wife's infidelity, his craving to re-connect with his kids, the fate of the land bequeathed to his family, the impending death of his wife, etc. In typical Payne fashion, the story never follows the expected course. It weaves quite wonderfully in various directions, never playing to convention yet never losing sight of the human drama at its core. Clooney demonstrates a surprising emotional range - quietly furious one moment, comically absurd the next – while Woodley as the eldest daughter is simply outstanding. The quality of the other acting is exceptional too… whatever else you think of The Descendants, it is certainly an immaculately acted film. Also admirable is the way the script manages to make Hawaii itself an integral "character" in the unfolding drama. It's been a long time since a story and a setting have complemented each other so consummately. The second half of the film - in which Matt tries to track down the realtor with whom his wife had her illicit affair - is slightly less compelling than the first. The story begins to sag in places, but at least Payne's off-kilter handling keeps things eminently watchable through these moments. Some viewers may be put off by the film's intentionally slow place, but in reality it is not so much a slow movie as a languid one, where events and characters are carefully developed in a way which feels convincing and honest. One has to be prepared to adjust to the pace, but once the film sinks its hook into you it keeps you absorbed all the way to its bittersweet final shot.