Nebraska, Nebraska, I love you
Following on from the Oscar-nominated The Descendants (featuring George Clooney’s best performance in years, and introducing the amazing Shailene Woodley – soon to be seen in The Fault in Our Stars), Nebraska is Alexander Payne’s latest film as director, and (unsurprisingly) it’s almost everything..
Nebraska
Director: Alexander Payne
Writer: Bob Nelson
Starring: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb
Runtime: 115 minutes
Certification: 15
Following on from the Oscar-nominated The Descendants (featuring George Clooney’s best performance in years, and introducing the amazing Shailene Woodley – soon to be seen in The Fault in Our Stars), _Nebraska _is Alexander Payne’s latest film as director, and (unsurprisingly) it’s almost everything you’d expect – and a little more. Shot entirely in black-and-white, Nebraska gains an ethereal kind of beauty in appearance – the frequent landscape shots, previously so full of life, colour and Hawaii in The Descendants are replaced by haunting images of the wide-open spaces of Nebraska: a sunrise without any colour is an incredibly surreal shot, but a strangely picturesque one. It’s through this lens the rest of the film is viewed, and with some drop-dead gorgeous shot composition (even of a field full of cows, at one point), it’s a fantastic place to start.
Fortunately, Nebraska doesn’t drop the ball from there – if anything, it builds on it. The plot is simple, slow-moving and rather easily resolved, but it’s also utterly irrelevant here. The focus lies on the interactions between the characters, and it shines through the monochrome in glorious Technicolor. Bruce Dern delivers a career-best performance as Woody, the confused, elderly father convinced he’s won a million dollars, capturing every nuance of a man who’s not quite sure where he is anymore, while the supporting cast are almost universally excellent. Will Forte steps away from his comedy background to play the role of the earnest, caring Dave, while Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad’s Saul Goodman) pops up to take on a somewhat less legally and morally questionable role, with the an absolute treat that is June Squibb as Woody’s feisty wife.
The chemistry within the family unit is incredible, but it’s the comedy of the extended family and friends that really steals the show (although, having said that – a scene in a graveyard is priceless, proving an undeniable highlight that tops The Descendants’ running-in-flip-flops scene for comedic absurdity, and manages to be funnier than half of 2014’s comedies so far). There are a multitude of scenes that provoke prolonged, out-loud laughter, tinged (as always) with a hint of melancholy and sadness. Although Nebraska lacks the emotionally crippling ending of The Descendants (I appreciate this review is just turning into an extended comparison, and I would apologise were it not for the fact I loved The Descendants, so there), it still has its moments of tenderness and plain-dealing emotion, if never quite tipping over into out-and-out sentimentality.
There are a few moments of wry social commentary hidden amongst everything else – most notably a cheeky nod to America’s relationship with technology over people – but ultimately this is a deeply personal, intimate film about people. It’s near perfect, and it’ll leave you with a smile on your face but a tinge of sadness in your heart. And it also features the best fight sequence ever, so there’s that.
