Nebraska
I have this feeling everyone should see Nebraska
in the same way I did, in a tiny little independent theater where you
expect to find a patron eating an apple, and there is no sign of Thor
or The Hunger Games in sight. The atmosphere adds to an appreciation
for the movie, contributing the intimacy you need to best enjoy
Nebraska (in their defense, the theater where
I saw Nebraska
didn’t have anyone eating apples, but the popcorn was yummy).
Bruce Dern stars as Woody – an elderly man suffering from
years of alcoholism and declining faculties. After receiving a
sweepstakes letter, Woody has become convinced he has won $1 Million,
and might be able to fulfill some of his unmet dreams and desires in
his twilight years. Of course, Woody won’t let anyone else
see the letter, and no one else believes he has actually won $1
Million, so the elderly man sets off daily to walk from his home in
Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska to collect his winnings.
Finally, realizing this will not rectify itself without going to the
sweepstakes headquarters, or watching Dad keel over on the side of the
road, Woody’s son, David (Will Forte), agrees to drive his
father to Nebraska. Along the way, the two attempt to reconnect and
visit Dad’s old hometown to catch up with the relatives and
friends from years past.
Nebraska
is being hailed as some great Oscar contender, but let’s not
get ahead of ourselves. It’s a good movie, but it made the
kind of headlines as a festival darling that it can’t live up
to when it reaches the general public.
It does have a quaint factor to it as director Alexander Payne has shot
Nebraska
in black and white to help contribute to the low cost, fly-on-the-wall
feel of it all. If it wasn’t for the well known cast, one
might mistake Nebraska
for a student project at film school (in a good way), or some old
French art film from music to scenery to content.
However, Payne and writer Bob Nelson let Nebraska
veer into parody at times. The script helps examine one man’s
look back at his life, troubles, and failures, but some of the
surrounding characters are left to play comedy too often, and in a way
that is too silly for us to take them seriously as real human beings.
They come off as a bunch of Midwesterners acting crazy, uncouth and
without grace as if they are animals in the zoo the rest of us
“sophisticated” folks are supposed to be amused by.
Sure, Dern is great as the man who is struggling with lucidity and
drunken confusion, which might also be the beginnings of
Alzheimer’s or some similar malady. He makes us sense all of
Woody’s frustration as he struggles to process the reality of
the situation and how people around him are reacting with jealousy,
conniving and outright mockery. Woody must suffer the slings and arrows
while attempting to maintain some pride and dignity.
Dern always gives Woody this dual belief that it all is too good to be
true, but it has to be true and real and this is his moment in the sun
because he will never have another chance again. Even more difficult,
Dern gives Woody a restrained emotional feel around everyone, even the
son who is accompanying him on what could be his last trip to anywhere
because this is a man who hasn’t been expressing his emotions
throughout his lifetime, and possibly drinking them away more than not.
Forte, who is most known as a comedian and star of Saturday
Night Live, is perfect as the
son trying to do the right thing for his father even though Dad, as we
learn throughout the movie, wasn’t exactly Father of the Year
material. Much like Woody, Forte needs to make us feel
David’s sadness at watching this lion of a man in his
decline, but also his own confusion and mixed feelings about the
relationship they have had over the years (not exactly MacGruber
material).
You will hear plenty of Oscar talk about June Squibb, who plays
Woody’s outspoken and feisty wife, Kate. She gives the stand
out performance of Nebraska,
but it is one that highlights the movies strengths and weaknesses.
Squibb gets all of the greatest lines and laughs, but she becomes
cartoonish at times.
Nebraska
is interesting, but not the massive revelation some would like to make
it out to be.
Nebraska
is rated R for some language.
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