Nebraska Reviews

First of all, for some reasons, I actually ended up watching this movie with my father. Indeed, he was just visiting and, from all the movies I proposed to watch, he chose this one, which was pretty neat. Anyway, following 'The Decendants' (which I very much enjoyed), fortunately, it didn’t take Alexander Payne so many years to come up with a new directing effort. In fact, Payne tried to get this movie made for almost a decade and it was only after the critical success of 'The Descendants' that he finally managed to get the necessary support. Anyway, I really enjoyed the damned thing. Indeed, first of all, the black and white cinematography  was gorgeous, the soundtrack was really nice and all the actors involved (especially Bruce Dern and June Squibb) delivered some really strong performances. On top of that, some of the dialogues were quite hilarious and I loved the depth that Bruce Dern managed to put in his character. So, there was a lot of good stuff in this movie, definitely, but I'm afraid it was still missing something to really win me over. First of all, I'm not a huge fan of road trips and, on top of that, that’s a gimmick that Payne has overused through the years (see also 'About Schmidt' and 'Sideways') so I had a rather hard time to really care about this tale. Furthermore, even though they tried to make us believe that Will Forte's character was some kind of loser, the guy was just so nice, so patient with his father and actually every one else, that he became slightly boring at some point and I missed in him the complexity and struggle displayed by his father. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I really liked it (my dad as well) and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

If there’s any genre that I think is difficult to make operate effectively in film, it’s the road movie. “The journey is the destination” mantra that hovers over these films typically reduces us into episodic moments in which the loosely assembled narrative frequently threatens to come undone by a parade of quirky side characters the hero meets along the way, and the rapidly shifting tones as we move from one stop to the next. There needs to be something strong holding the entire enterprise together than a yearning to be upon the road, or for the character to find himself long the way.

I will admit that when Nebraska started I was quite worried that it would venture into this same territory. That it would possibly even take some mean-spirited pot shots at flyover states and their denizens. But as the film kept going, I got more involved with its rhythm, and eventually a part of it touched my spirit. I began to rather enjoy its lack of sentimentality, that a lot of the characters were fuck-ups and hard-asses. People were willing to look at life’s hardships squarely in the face and not flinch, but instead work through them with a dogged determination and just get it done.

Much of the credit for this entire film working at all goes to Bruce Dern’s quiet, contradictory performance. He plays an alcoholic, slowly succumbing to memory loss that has remained a mystery to those closest to him. Woody is obsessed with the possibility that an obvious scheme may actually be his ticket to easy riches, and, I suspect, for the first time ever has decided to become proactive about something. One suspects that he’s lucid enough to know that this is his one last shot at completing a task like this, no matter how foolish.

Dern finds the truth to this man and plays it for all that it’s worth. As each day passes, Dern has his character awaken with a joy in his eyes and bounding in his step that is then trampled upon by the mundane and repetitive nature of his environments. This fool’s gold of a prize is an obvious MacGuffin, an errand only for those without the basic knowledge to spot an obvious attempt at manipulation. Yet Dern invests this dream with believability and an earnestness that is almost pitiable and charming in equal doses. The same could be said for his frequent alcoholic episodes in which he promptly says fairly terrible or emotionally damaging things to the people around him, not out of malice or spite, but from simply lacking in the common courtesy of thinking before speaking.

Will Forte, yes the one from SNL, proves to have unexpected depths as a dramatic actor. I’m so used to seeing his grotesqueries on SNL or 30 Rock that to see him play a real person so believably is almost perverse. Yet there he is, bringing a wounded melancholia and crumbling pride as the younger son of Dern who accompanies his father on the journey for a variety of reasons. One of them is clearly to keep an eye on the old man, another is to discover something about his father, and himself, along the way. It’s never too late to change or grow as a person if you truly want to, and Forte’s character experiences the most growth as he transitions from a man slowly becoming exactly like his father, to one filled with agency and a clearer picture of who he would like to be.

But Nebraska is easily stolen by June Squibb as Dern’s long-suffering wife. While she may be shoved into the long-suffering wife role, that doesn’t mean her character is as one-note and expected as that. Squibb takes every opportunity to create the crass, tough, devil-may-care persona of this particular woman. A scene in the cemetery where she offers up particularly brusque and rude insights about family history and character traits is gut-busting for how committed she is to saying terrible things in a straight-forward way. Even better is a scene late in the film where she unloads on the scheming relatives who are trying to grab a piece of Dern’s alleged winnings.

Yet it’s the morose nature hovering over Nebraska that stays with me. The sense that the main character is easily coming closer and closer to staring death in the face, and the uncomfortable, often painful attempts at two generations trying to understand each other. I think Forte walked away at the end of the film understanding his personal history and his personality just a bit better, but what an awkward journey to get there. Mixing tragedy with comedy is hard, but somewhere Alexander Payne manages to do it every time he steps up to the bat.

The two time Academy Award winning director for adapted screenplay for the movies 'Sideways' and 'The Descendants'. This time for original screenplay and 5 other nominees, including best motion picture and direction. The 2nd of march 2014 evening will decide how many it would grab the little golden statues. Till then we have to wait with no option.

The movie had no big names in the cast according to the current market value, but still got a big slide to the 2014 Oscar. Except seeing the posters I never interested to take a peek inside the promos like teasers and trailers. Before watching the movie yesterday I thought it was Jack Nicolson in the poster. I thought they were working together again after the success of 'About Schmidt'. Then realised and surprised about this simple but a beautiful movie.

The story was very impressive, in fact, realistic subject. About the old generation people and their misunderstandings of the current world's advertisement gimmicks. The black and white presentation was enchanting. It would have been different if the movie was in colour, I guess I could have liked a bit lesser than now.

It was begun like a father-son's road adventure, then later turned into a drama about a family reunion. Dialogues were very good, filled with many dark homours. The story sets with the backdrop of a lottery ticket and takes different avatars which reveals other stories. Like stories of our protagonists birth town, old friends and girlfriend. It's always heartwarming to see the aged guys struggling in a movie. It makes to lean your fondness towards that role. If you are a weak it will emotionally appeal, but also entertains with its dark humors. Either way you will have a great 2 hours with it.

One of the best movie of 2013 after 'Gravity', 'Frances Ha' 'Short Term 12', 'Rush', and few others. Definitely a pure family entertainment. If you ever enjoyed the director's earlier movies, then you would do same for this as well. So highly recommended. Don't listen to critics, what I came to know is they are bashing this poetical movie fiercely.

9.5/10

Payne presented yesterday the film in Lima´s festival. He said he has made a lot of changes since its Cannes screening. I like and forgive, in a sense, its voluntarily naif and tender approach to the main characters (the Grants) in constrast with the caricaturesque relatives and Ed Pegrem (Keach). This new maniqueism makes the film light but quite enjoyable.