Nebraska

2013

Paramount/Vantage

“Universal”

Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, and Stacey Keach

Woody Grant, David his son, and Kate, Woody’s wife, slowly, and methodically shuffle through every single rotting room of an old homestead that Woody’s father built with his own hands in the middle of Nebraska, the landscape where everything is bare and plain, and stretching for miles to the next homestead or town.  This is exactly the description of the search through Woody’s soul, the different rooms of a man’s heart.  And amongst all that empty ruin, the broken glass, the completely demolished crib, the alcoholism, the slow depreciation of the body, the son finds a way to hold up a bit of life for his old man, to stand next to him in the face of his ridiculousness, his absurdity, his delusion, and delivers a punch that we’re so glad happens at the proper time.  

Bruce Dern is Woody, Will Forte (SNL fame) is one of his sons, and June Squibb is Woody’s wife.  Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad) joins as David’s brother Ross, the other son.   Stacey Keach does a fantastic job in an important smaller role of an old friend in Hawthorne, Nebraska, where Woody grew up.  I remember Bruce Dern from Silent Running (1972), mostly.  That was one of my all-time favorite sci-fi flicks when I was a teen, right along side THX-1138 (George Lucas’ first breakthrough starring Robert Duvall).

This story is about respect, honor, and commitment, even in the face of what appears to be a shattered and worthless life.  It’s about coming to terms with an individual life.

But it is equally about the real desire that we have as fathers to leave something for our children, even if it’s just a truck, and a compressor.

A fabulous job of revitalizing Black and White photography, and a completely appropriate use for this story’s setting.  I liked the fact that at the start, director Alexander Payne (The Descendants - 2011, and About Schmidt - 2002),  used the old Universal logo, also in B/W.  But what could not have been more appropriate than the non-use of color was the inclusion of relatives, and people revealing everything they were - also, eh hem..in black and white, especially the wife Kate.  She was the bullhorn of opinion, the town crier of lists of sins, outspoken and not a hint of embarrassment at her own self-defacement.  She left no rock unturned.  Kudos to the bravery of writer Bob Nelson, who previously to this has written only some TV drama and comedy.  There is a bite to this one.  

Ed Johnson of NUVO.NET does a review in the Nov27-Dec4 issue.  He states, “Nebraska almost succumbs to ugliness, but eventually finds it’s footing and pays off.”  I have to agree here somewhat.  That is what appears to happen if you’re not paying close attention.  But that so-called ugliness is simply truth telling, made possible by Kate, in fact, who plays a much larger role than you would at first imagine.  Ed Johnson also notes that he wonders, “weather Payne and Nelson’s (the screenwriter) parade of sad, angry, inane, lost and /or insufferable folks was an indictment of rural communities or humanity in general.”   I have to say neither.  (Please read “neither" with an “I” instead of an “E”).  It is a parade, yes, but a very carefully executed parade through the various vagaries of the degrees of motivations and manipulations that people are capable of, thereby bringing an even higher contrast to the almost winsomely honest performance of Will Forte’s character as his ingenuous son.  Again, more black and white.  This is an expose of the nature of people in the progress of dying.  

The family watching football had to be one of my favorite moments of the film.  Funny, and appropriately timed as a relief from what could have been a tedious subject.  A road movie, as Johnson said in his review, yes, but not a barren one.  I knew when the last shot was happening on the screen, when the titles would come.  It was a great closer, perfectly done, and very satisfying, a complete “trip”, without leaving us in some kind of existential blur or a question about what we should do now.  What to do?  Well, it made me want to pause and spend time with someone, to listen to them, to possibly alleviate their desires for life.  

Great film.