By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Bob Odenkirk | Bruce Dern | June Squibb | Mary Louise Wilson | Stacy Keach | Will Forte
Country: united_states
Year: 2013
Running time: 115
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821549/combined
Chris says: “‘Older’ is a They Might Be Giants song whose primary lyric incessantly proclaims ‘You’re older than you’ve ever been / and now you’re getting older,’ baldly and astutely stating a fact that most of us would rather not think about. Even though it wouldn’t fit the film’s sonic palette, one could hardly come up with a better song to describe NEBRASKA and its weathered, cranky lead, Woodrow Grant (Bruce Dern). We first meet him shuffling down the side of a busy highway in Billings, Montana, all wild, white hair and worn, comfortable clothing. He’s determined to reach Lincoln, Nebraska by any means possible (even if he has to walk hundreds of miles) to claim a million dollar prize offer he received in the mail.
“Of course, the ‘prize’ is one of those magazine subscription scams everyone’s familiar with, including Grant’s crusty, domineering wife Kate (June Squibb) and his adult son David (Will Forte)—everyone, that is, except for Grant, who refuses to believe anything other than what the piece of paper he’s holding onto literally says. No one takes him seriously, as he’s an elderly alcoholic showing sign of forgetfulness and perhaps some early dementia. Nonetheless, David offers to drive him to Lincoln as a means to spend time together and get out of Billings (and away from Kate) for a few days. En route, they make an extended stop in Hawthorne, the tiny speck of a Nebraskan farming town that Grant grew up in. An impromptu family reunion ensues, filling in some of the blanks of Grant’s past; we also witness how relatives, friends and other folks behave (or not) when Grant spills the beans as to the monetary reason for his trip.
“The film is a sort of homecoming for director Alexander Payne, who set his first three features in the Great Plains State. It shares a few themes with the last of the three, ABOUT SCHMIDT (aging, road trip) but retains the melancholy, less romantic tone of the films he’s made since then (especially THE DESCENDANTS). The muted black-and-white cinematography perfectly complements the region’s virtually empty widescreen canvases and the drab aesthetics of Grant’s Lutheran family. As always, Payne depicts the Midwest with precision and authenticity (I swear I’ve been in places exactly like Hawthorne), but now he relies less on satire (only David’s two doffus cousins inspire any ridicule), successfully honing a more no-nonsense yet not humorless approach—one that may even suit the feisty, hilarious Squibb, who scrapes, cuts and bleeds like a good Mike Leigh anti-heroine. Former SNL cast member Forte also acquits himself well in his first dramatic role, but it’s unquestionably the 77-year-old Darn’s film—disappearing deeply into Woodrow Grant, he’s neither a lovable old coot nor a wizened force of nature; he just is who he is, an aged man on an inexorable march towards death, putting up with all of life’s stupid inconveniences because what else can one do? 5 cats”