Hello Beautiful People,
Almost there! We’re almost there! There’s just one more film left to see, and just in time for the Academy Awards this evening. WHEW! This has been a whirlwind of film watching. Next year aka this year, I promise, I’m going to start early. (I think I said that last year?)
Nebraska is. Wow. I’m still emotionally in this film. Let’s discuss the stuff I have to say first. Directed by Alexander Payne, Nebraska is a drama road film (I’m getting these categories from Wikipedia and they are crazy!) starring Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, and Bob Odenkirk. It is nominated for six Oscars, including Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. It’s the story of Woody Grant (Bruce Dern), a very difficult and cranky old man who has received a notice in the mail informing him that he has won $1,000,000. (Which is clearly bogus.) So naturally, he sets out walking. Did I mention he is very forgetful, and stubborn, and his family is considering putting him in a home? So that’s clearly the sort of thing Woody would do. After many hold ups, Woody’s son Davey (Will Forte) agrees to drive Woody to Nebraska, with the hopes of getting him to shut up about the money. The film is mostly about Woody and Davey stopping in Woody’s hometown of Hawthorne, Nebraska, and all of the troubles he gets into there when he confesses to old friends in a bar that he has won a large amount of money. (Which he hasn’t; he’s just confused and stubborn.) Along the road trip there are drunken adventures, there is a search for missing dentures by the tracks, and somewhere along the way there is this family that loves so much, despite their obvious shortcomings. Put in a nutshell, Nebraska is a gem.
Because I always talk about the acting, let’s talk about the acting. It may have occurred to you that you don’t know the names of many of these actors. I know that certainly occurred to me when I was reading about the film. I was frequently scratching my head, wondering if perhaps Paul Rudd was just unavailable. But then I realized that Alexander Payne did something that I have been hoping and praying that Hollywood would do- gave important and wonderful roles to the actors that deserved them, rather than the actors that bring the most money to the box office! Yippee!! All of them were wonderful. Bruce Dern is a stand out actor. When reading about him, I discovered that he is 77 years young, and has appeared in 80 feature films. That’s pretty amazing for a guy I’ve barely heard of. (Also, his godfather was Adlai Stevenson, his godmother was First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and his grandfather was Secretary of War George Henry Dern. Not too shabby.) And pretty amazing sums up his work in Nebraska. I have no basis of comparison, but I’m going to assume Dern wasn’t playing himself. I was struck by his physicality- in the film, Woody doesn’t walk very well, and is frequently needing help up things, falling over, slow at getting going, etc. He also doesn’t hear well. I don’t know what sort of challenges Dern experiences in real life, but if hearing loss and mobility aren’t a part of his regular, everyday life, then hat’s off. The man was seriously brilliant. He was also often drunk, cantankerous, and exactly what you would expect to see when you think of a difficult old man. He was blunt, and hysterical, and strongly reminded me of my grandfather. I adored his character, the way he didn’t ever talk about the past, the way he questioned the sense in sentimentality, the way he confessed his desire to leave something for his children when asked why he wanted a million dollars so badly (his first desire though, was a new truck). Bruce Dern did an incredible job and I was beyond impressed.
June Squibb was also amazing, mostly in that she was horrible! What a terrible woman Woody married! Kate is brash, says exactly what she thinks about everyone, and all of her thoughts are terribly mean. I was struck by a scene with Kate, David, and Woody standing in the cemetery, surrounded by Woody’s dead relatives, when Kate casually mentions how Woody’s youngest sister Rose died at age 19, and was such a whore. I mean, wow. And yet, she was a typical grandmother. I think I’ve got some older matriarch somewhere in my family who wouldn’t hesitate to say the things Kate said either. As much as Kate called Woody an idiot, and cursed him seven ways to Sunday, she loved him, as we can see in a tender moment with Kate standing over a sleeping Woody recently hospitalized. Squibb was a wonderful counterpart to the frustrating and frustrated Woody, and deserves every bit of that nomination.
Although Will Forte, who played David, was a second star of the film, I have to say his performance was not a stand out. Which isn’t to say that he acted poorly, but I do believe his character suffered due to its function. The purpose of having Davey in the movie is really to show off all the things we want to know about Woody, and in that context, Forte did a remarkable job. He was just bland enough- not so bad that I didn’t want to see him, but not so wonderful that he distracted from the story of Woody. Odenkirk is an actor I’ve seen before, and he played Woody’s older son Ross. Ross contributes very little to the story, and wasn’t very memorable.
What Nebraska excels at is portraying the American family out west. While watching the film, all I could see were my own family members starring back at me. My family had the same squabbles, the same lies, the same conversations, and the same love that lives far below the surface. I was transported to my grandmother’s kitchen table when my family would go to visit. I loved Nebraska because it wasn’t flashy. There weren’t crazy, fantastical things happening. It was just a gorgeous portrayal of real life. The filming was exquisitely done in black and white, and while at first I thought the black and white was a gimmicky ploy to get nominations for being artsy, in fact Nebraska made more and more sense in black and white the longer I watched. It hearkened back to an older time, and allowed the viewer to feel as though they are reminiscing. This movie is timeless because it’s so clearly dated (not as in old, but as in has a date). It’s one moment in one man’s life.
I could go on and on, but this review is long enough already. Please go and see Nebraska. It’s a beautiful story about a man who has a lot of things to be ashamed of, and yet continues to live as he feels he wants to until he stops living. We get to see his shame, his regrets, his triumphs, and his joy. We see him revel in and wish he were beyond his old home in Hawthorne, Nebraska. We see him wish his wife and children understood him, as well as wish he could be a better husband and father. Nebraska is one family, unadorned, a placeholder for any American family, warts and all. Please don’t let this movie get away from you. It is full of feeling in ways I can’t explain or describe, and I was filled with emotion every second, yet not full of tears. I will certainly be rooting for this film to take home the prize at the 2014 Academy Awards.
Live, Love, Learn,