Nebraska (Film Review)

I’ll admit I have a problem judging trailers; often being turned away by them to films that end up being really good.  Just last year I nearly missed three films due to mediocre looking previews…they ended up being my favorite films of 2012.  Yet I've never had this problem worse than with the filmography of Alexander Payne.  About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants and Payne’s newest film Nebraska all have trailers that, for better use of words, were really boring and uninteresting.  This is somewhat understandable as Payne’s films are often about the long journey, where characters develop from dry to fascinating and have major character development by the end (which granted is quite difficult to show in 2 minutes, especially without major spoilers).  Yet just as the saying goes “never judge a book by its cover”, Payne has proven time and time again that his films are far greater than what their trailers suggest; Nebraska being no exception.

Nebraska’s journey revolves around Woody Grant (Bruce Dern), an elderly man who’s convinced he’s won a one million dollar sweepstakes in Nebraska.  Despite protest from his tough as nails wife Kate (June Squibb) and son Ross (Bob Odenkirk) that it’s all a scam, he still makes several attempts to walk (since he’s lost his driver’s license) from his home in Montana to get his prize.  This eventually leads to his other son David (Will Forte) taking time off work to journey (aka drive) with his dad to claim his millions.  Woody and David have a strained relationship due to Woody having been a heavy drinker and neglectful to his two sons during their childhood.  This ends up being the major reason David takes Woody to Nebraska, in hopes that it will help strengthen their father-son relation.  As the story progresses we learn more about Woody’s family, friends, and past; revealing there’s more to him than meets the eye.

After seeing the trailer I became curious to know why Payne filmed Nebraska in black and white.  It could of course have simply been for aesthetic reasons; using monochrome imagery to bring out the beauty of its lines and shadows.  There is however another possible reason; Nebraska’s setting is in the mid-west, with long open fields, small towns, and scarce amounts of people.  Little goes on in these towns (Woody winning a million dollars is front page worthy), and people live very yokel lives.  The entire film has a very dry sense of humor; in one scene the Grant family males (all dozen of them; mostly elderly) sit down to watch TV.  They hardly say several words to each other and when one does, another mishears him; leading to a hilarious discussion on cars where one brother end up contradicting himself to his other possibly deaf sibling.   It hit me that that’s exactly the reason Payne uses black and white as it complements the particular form of bleakness used for the film, giving Nebraska a drier and more desolate appearance.

As I write this, I realize the last paragraph gives a negative connotation to the film (making it sound boring); yet the bleakness is in Nebraska’s setting only, leaving the characters and plot alone to fascinate and entertain.  Nebraska plays with its main cast’s personalities; starting them out as somewhat bland and basic, and then developing them into heartwarmingly sympathetic/likable characters.  Both Bruce Dern and June Squibb are fine examples of this use, giving terrific performances with their respective elderly counterparts.  Squibb’s character June is a complete hard-ass who ridicules her drunk of a husband at every turn.  Yet we learn June’s tough nature is due to Woody’s passive one that other “friends” might take advantage of; going from mocker of his antics to his greatest defender when others try to benefit from his over-generous behavior (in the end revealing true affection for him).  The graveyard scene is just one great example of Squibb’s comedy; showcasing both her sarcastic black humor and fast-paced wit.  Dern’s character on the other hand starts off as just an elderly, grumpy alcoholic who doesn't seem to care much for his wife and children.  Nebraska slowly changes the perspective of Woody as more of his past becomes revealed to David and the audience; creating him into a three dimensional human that builds with the subtle, yet powerfully well done father-son relationship.

One of the funniest scenes in Nebraska has both sons stealing an old air compressor from a man who originally borrowed from Woody yet never returned.  The scene plays similar to a scene from one of Payne’s earlier films Sideways (that scene being one of the funniest from said movie).  The scene shows off nearly all aspects of what makes Nebraska great (save for some very powerful scenes near the end); having black comedy, wit, and surprising sincerity from its characters.  It’s a shame scenes such as these never get proper showcasing in the trailers, though perhaps (as crazy as it sounds) it’s for the better.  Payne’s trailers never reveal the true heart of his films, the parts that make you glad you decided to watch.  So while Nebraska’s previews never gave the film suitable recognition, they allowed me (and possibly others) to become overwhelmingly surprised by its pleasing journey and delightfully colorful characters.  In the end the trailers seem to even out with the pros and cons; no matter what they did however, Nebraska will still remain a fine piece of cinematic entertainment and artistry.