WORDS Evans Bailey
Alexander Payne’s latest film, Nebraska, finds him returning to the familiar Middle America of his previous works Citizen Ruth, About Schmidt, and Election. Starring Bruce Dern, Will Forte (of Saturday Night Live fame), and the delightful June Squibb, Nebraska also finds Payne returning to familiar thematic devices, road trips and self-realization.
The film starts in Montana, where Dern’s aging Woody has found a late purpose in life — to travel to Lincoln, Nebraska and collect his “winnings” from a mail insert sweepstakes. His son, Forte’s David, has nothing better to do, so he decides to accompany his father on the trip to keep Woody in line and spend some quality time with his mystery of a father.
The film, and the road trip, get sidetracked in Woody’s hometown of Hawthorne. Woody, his family members, and his supposed friends in Hawthorne have plenty of debts to settle. Once the rumor of Woody’s windfall spreads around town, the stakes inevitably get raised. All the cantankerous Woody wants is a new truck and a replacement air compressor. But the quiet and prideful citizens of Hawthorne aren’t above stooping to petty theft in an effort to get at Woody’s winnings.
There’s redemption for Woody and David in the end, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that Payne has a strange contempt for Middle America. The characters are funny (especially Squibb, who plays Woody’s no-nonsense wife), but sometimes the humor is so biting and reveals such ugliness that one can’t help but wonder if Payne would like to see the place wiped off the map. While trying to ride a fine line between respect and contempt for these characters, the film too often veers towards the negative. Payne also chose to shoot in black and white, which he admitted on a recent visit to the Colbert Report was to portray the bleakness of the wintry Nebraska landscape.
Dern’s portrayal of Woody has earned him an Oscar nomination. While the character of Woody is certainly unique, the accolades Dern has received seem to owe themselves more towards a lifetime of achievement than his particular portrayal here. Nebraska has also gotten a Best Picture nomination, but it has no hopes (absent a Crash-like coup) of taking home the statue in a loaded field which also has American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street, Gravity, and Dallas Buyers Club. Two other nominees, Philomena and Her, will also be at the Capri in March.
Nebraska is worth a view, but don’t expect to be blown away.
Catch this film at The Capri, March 21-27. The Capri is located on Fairview Avenue. Visit www.capritheatre.org for info.