Nebraska
Directed by: Alexander Payne
Written by: Bob Nelson
Starring: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, Stacy Keach, Mary Louise Wilson, Tim Driscoll, Devin Ratray, Rance Howard, Angela McEwan
Adventure/Drama - 115 min
Written by: Bob Nelson
Starring: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, Stacy Keach, Mary Louise Wilson, Tim Driscoll, Devin Ratray, Rance Howard, Angela McEwan
Adventure/Drama - 115 min
Alexander Payne has an acute and deeply reflective sense of place. We don’t think of Sideways without seeing Napa’s orchards, The Descendants is marked with a distinct Hawaiian atmosphere, and now Nebraska will be linked with wide open sky, farm fields stretching into the horizon, and a decaying, forgotten small town. Continuing his tradition of studying the natives in locales people usually visit briefly as tourists or speed through on a super highway, Payne populates Hawthorne, Nebraska with folk time left behind.
The majority of Hawthorne’s residents are retired farmers ambling around an aged, vacant Main Street who may stop in for a beer at one of the few viable businesses left in town, the tavern. When Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) and son David (Will Forte) pass through, their presence would be the talk of the town even if Woody wasn’t spreading news of his new financial windfall. Woody and family long ago escaped the clutches of his home town and fled to Billings, Montana, a faraway place that reeks of the big city to Hawthornites.
Woody is in the early stages of dementia. To claim his “You may have already won $1,000,000” prize, he starts walking the 850 miles to Lincoln, Nebraska from Billings. Regardless of how many times his boys or his sharp-tongued wife, Kate (June Squibb), try to explain to Woody the nature of the scam, he is convinced he will be an instant millionaire the second he arrives in Lincoln.
Morphing into a road movie, David drives Woody to Lincoln. David shuffles through life in a worthless job, just lost his live-in girlfriend, and offers to drive his dad because at least he will be going somewhere. Right now in Billings, David is going nowhere. Through the consequences of bumbling drunkenness, the pair ends up in Hawthorne among a clan of relatives and the ghosts of Woody’s past. Here is where Nebraska takes a fork in the road. It converts from comedic road trip to a social commentary on the recession’s effect on small town America, the bond between an alcoholic father and his stunted son, and hints at a melodrama of long dead family secrets bubbling to the surface.
Gossip spreads like wildfire of the rich man returning to his roots. Family crawls out of the woodwork to remind David of all the times they financially-aided Woody when he endured hard times and old business partners materialize to try and wet their beaks as well. Little do they care or believe when David explains there is no money – the new creditors believe that story as much as Woody believes there is no money waiting for him in Lincoln.
Bruce Dern won the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor prize for his portrayal of a confused, yet determined, old man of very few words. He is probably the country’s most steadfast libertarian. He pays his taxes and mostly obeys the law; if he wants to drink too much and hide his liquor in the garage he should be allowed to just that with no fuss from anyone, especially his family. Will Forte, making an unexpected career jump from slapstick comedy to wry indie dramedy pulls his weight as the man forced into the reactor role. Whatever awkward situation Woody steers them toward, David’s role is to guide them back out again, apologize for his dad, and try and get them a little further down the road.
Some feel Payne ventures into caricature and condescends to the humble Midwesterners on screen but I believe he stays on the other side of the line from that. Sure, the locals can be goofy, but those characteristics represent more of a gentle poke from writer Ben Nelson than a full-on jabbing elbow. The choice to film in black- and-white also reminds the audience of a bygone time even more obvious than the tumbleweed-strewn, desolate town. The film even opens with the old Paramount logo from the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Payne takes us back in time to an era many imagine was easier; the million dollars is just a ruse to get us there. However, Nebraska lacks any sort of weighty revelation or memorable punch to make you think about as you walk out of the theater. June Squibb is around for a few stinging insults that provide the film’s chuckles, but the film pulls its punches to glide through the paces without too much friction. In fact, Payne has already made a better road movie with goofy relatives, 2002’s About Schmidt.
The majority of Hawthorne’s residents are retired farmers ambling around an aged, vacant Main Street who may stop in for a beer at one of the few viable businesses left in town, the tavern. When Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) and son David (Will Forte) pass through, their presence would be the talk of the town even if Woody wasn’t spreading news of his new financial windfall. Woody and family long ago escaped the clutches of his home town and fled to Billings, Montana, a faraway place that reeks of the big city to Hawthornites.
Woody is in the early stages of dementia. To claim his “You may have already won $1,000,000” prize, he starts walking the 850 miles to Lincoln, Nebraska from Billings. Regardless of how many times his boys or his sharp-tongued wife, Kate (June Squibb), try to explain to Woody the nature of the scam, he is convinced he will be an instant millionaire the second he arrives in Lincoln.
Morphing into a road movie, David drives Woody to Lincoln. David shuffles through life in a worthless job, just lost his live-in girlfriend, and offers to drive his dad because at least he will be going somewhere. Right now in Billings, David is going nowhere. Through the consequences of bumbling drunkenness, the pair ends up in Hawthorne among a clan of relatives and the ghosts of Woody’s past. Here is where Nebraska takes a fork in the road. It converts from comedic road trip to a social commentary on the recession’s effect on small town America, the bond between an alcoholic father and his stunted son, and hints at a melodrama of long dead family secrets bubbling to the surface.
Gossip spreads like wildfire of the rich man returning to his roots. Family crawls out of the woodwork to remind David of all the times they financially-aided Woody when he endured hard times and old business partners materialize to try and wet their beaks as well. Little do they care or believe when David explains there is no money – the new creditors believe that story as much as Woody believes there is no money waiting for him in Lincoln.
Bruce Dern won the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor prize for his portrayal of a confused, yet determined, old man of very few words. He is probably the country’s most steadfast libertarian. He pays his taxes and mostly obeys the law; if he wants to drink too much and hide his liquor in the garage he should be allowed to just that with no fuss from anyone, especially his family. Will Forte, making an unexpected career jump from slapstick comedy to wry indie dramedy pulls his weight as the man forced into the reactor role. Whatever awkward situation Woody steers them toward, David’s role is to guide them back out again, apologize for his dad, and try and get them a little further down the road.
Some feel Payne ventures into caricature and condescends to the humble Midwesterners on screen but I believe he stays on the other side of the line from that. Sure, the locals can be goofy, but those characteristics represent more of a gentle poke from writer Ben Nelson than a full-on jabbing elbow. The choice to film in black- and-white also reminds the audience of a bygone time even more obvious than the tumbleweed-strewn, desolate town. The film even opens with the old Paramount logo from the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Payne takes us back in time to an era many imagine was easier; the million dollars is just a ruse to get us there. However, Nebraska lacks any sort of weighty revelation or memorable punch to make you think about as you walk out of the theater. June Squibb is around for a few stinging insults that provide the film’s chuckles, but the film pulls its punches to glide through the paces without too much friction. In fact, Payne has already made a better road movie with goofy relatives, 2002’s About Schmidt.
Comment Box is loading comments...
