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Nebraska, or There and Back Again (2013)
Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk. Directed by Alexander Payne.
David Grant (Will Forte) sells home theater systems at a consumer electronics store in Billings, Montana. His older brother Ross (Bob Odenkirk) is a local newscaster who gets to anchor when the regular anchor is out. His mom (June Squibb) is a loud, crude, complaining woman who takes care of his barely functioning father (Bruce Dern). Both parents have reached the don’t-care-what-others-think phase; it is evidenced by Kate’s unwillingness to censor her thoughts as they come out of her mouth, and Woody’s is evidenced by hair that looks like he’s always just gotten off a motorcycle.
David seems to have seen his best days. His live-in girlfriend has moved out, pleading not exactly for marriage, but for anything, as long as it’s different. David seems to be rooted in some kind of stasis, something I imagine a lot of just-turned-middle-aged guys must confront living in very small neighborhoods to which “dead end town” might apply.
Woody is determined to walk to Lincoln, Nebraska, to claim one of those sweepstakes prizes the magazine brokers send out, despite everyone telling him he has not won anything. Since nobody will drive him, he walks.
What makes David decide to drive his father to Lincoln is one of the nice mysteries of this film. It’s not a puzzle of JFK-like import, but it’s pleasurable to watch Forte’s performance for clues. Does he just feel sorry for a dad who seems to have nothing else to look forward to? Is he hoping to reconnect with a father who seems more and more to resist connection every day? Or is he looking his own future in the eye and trying to figure out if there’s anything for him in his twilight years outside of TV game shows and gossip about the neighbors?
What I love most about this film is the way David, his brother, and their parents spend enough time together in this non-adventure for us to see the genuine affection they all have for each other, expressed in ways far less dramatic than movies might make them do it, but so much truer and more believable. David and Ross seem to have very little in common, but the time they spend together this one weekend is enough for them to slip into brotherly roles, circling the wagons when other relatives become aggressive.
David’s family is brought together in this tiny way at this seemingly insignificant moment, and it’s sweet and charming, and while Squibb and Dern are getting all the awards-season love this year, it’s Forte, and his sad, stoic, eager affection and endless patience who holds this movie together and makes you think this could somehow be you.
Everything about Nebraska feels good because even in the face of some ugliness, the central characters remain good people, and you get a sense that the thing that shakes David out of his stasis is a barely-beneath-the-surface goodness that was put there by good parents.
9/10 (IMDb rating)
95/100 (Criticker rating)
Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk. Directed by Alexander Payne.
David Grant (Will Forte) sells home theater systems at a consumer electronics store in Billings, Montana. His older brother Ross (Bob Odenkirk) is a local newscaster who gets to anchor when the regular anchor is out. His mom (June Squibb) is a loud, crude, complaining woman who takes care of his barely functioning father (Bruce Dern). Both parents have reached the don’t-care-what-others-think phase; it is evidenced by Kate’s unwillingness to censor her thoughts as they come out of her mouth, and Woody’s is evidenced by hair that looks like he’s always just gotten off a motorcycle.
David seems to have seen his best days. His live-in girlfriend has moved out, pleading not exactly for marriage, but for anything, as long as it’s different. David seems to be rooted in some kind of stasis, something I imagine a lot of just-turned-middle-aged guys must confront living in very small neighborhoods to which “dead end town” might apply.
Woody is determined to walk to Lincoln, Nebraska, to claim one of those sweepstakes prizes the magazine brokers send out, despite everyone telling him he has not won anything. Since nobody will drive him, he walks.
What makes David decide to drive his father to Lincoln is one of the nice mysteries of this film. It’s not a puzzle of JFK-like import, but it’s pleasurable to watch Forte’s performance for clues. Does he just feel sorry for a dad who seems to have nothing else to look forward to? Is he hoping to reconnect with a father who seems more and more to resist connection every day? Or is he looking his own future in the eye and trying to figure out if there’s anything for him in his twilight years outside of TV game shows and gossip about the neighbors?
What I love most about this film is the way David, his brother, and their parents spend enough time together in this non-adventure for us to see the genuine affection they all have for each other, expressed in ways far less dramatic than movies might make them do it, but so much truer and more believable. David and Ross seem to have very little in common, but the time they spend together this one weekend is enough for them to slip into brotherly roles, circling the wagons when other relatives become aggressive.
David’s family is brought together in this tiny way at this seemingly insignificant moment, and it’s sweet and charming, and while Squibb and Dern are getting all the awards-season love this year, it’s Forte, and his sad, stoic, eager affection and endless patience who holds this movie together and makes you think this could somehow be you.
Everything about Nebraska feels good because even in the face of some ugliness, the central characters remain good people, and you get a sense that the thing that shakes David out of his stasis is a barely-beneath-the-surface goodness that was put there by good parents.
9/10 (IMDb rating)
95/100 (Criticker rating)
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