Screenplay Written by Bob Nelson
Directed by Alexander Payne
**1/2 (two and a half stars)
Bruce Dern has always kind of given me the creeps.
With his mane of wild hair, which always appears to have been the result of some severe electro-shock therapy, nostrils that always seemed to be perpetually flared and exaggerated and/or unpredictable mannerisms, Bruce Dern has felt to me to be slightly less of an actor and more of an unhinged asylum patient who wandered onto ta Hollywood set and got lucky. This is not to suggest that Dern is lacking of talent. That is not my intent in any way, shape or form. It is just the impression that I have always had of him--someone not quite right in the head or spirit, someone almost alien.
So, it was truly refreshing to regard Bruce Dern's performance in "Nebraska," the latest film from Director Alexander Payne and the follow-up film to his excellent previous work, "The Descendants" (2011). Dern is decidedly dialed down into a character that is richly and rewardingly not unhinged, insane, or around the bend. He is all too recognizably human, to a remarkable degree as he summons the frailty of aging and the sheer force of will that belies his advanced age. I had wished, however, that the film overall had been as successful as I had hoped for it to be, especially considering Payne's excellent body of work, which includes alongside "The Descendants," the high school political satire "Election" (1999), the elegiac road film "About Schmidt" (2002), and the midlife crisis in California wine country saga "Sideways" (2004). With "Nebraska," what we essentially have is a collection of Alexander Payne's "greatest hits" wrapped up in an intriguing new package but is actually more been there, done that, than it needed to be.
Beginning in Billings, Montana, "Nebraska" stars Bruce Dern as Woody Grant who has found himself determined to fulfill a personal quest: to travel to Lincoln, Nebraska (on foot, if need be) to claim the 1 million dollar sweepstakes winnings he thinks that he has won. Despite his trepidation, Woody's son David (played by Saturday Night Live's Will Forte), decides to accompany his Father on a road trip that will have them reunited with family, old friends and nemeses, several of whom Woody owes money and nearly all of whom are plotting how to claim their own considerable pieces of Woody's supposed pie.
Essentially, that is the plot of "Nebraska" in a nutshell and like several of Alexander Payne's films, the main concepts and conceits are not plot driven but character driven, with the landscape itself serving a pivotal role. Utilizing striking black and white cinematography, Payne allows the endless highways, slowly moving clouds, dilapidated homes and vast acres of farm land to speak to the film's themes of aging and the passage of time, a thee which is further developed by the film's large cast of elderly actors, who thankfully are not on display with wishes of being young again. They are cantankerous, Full of piss, vinegar and broken and long faded dreams but they also house a deep matter-of fact quality, plus a commitment and devotion to their respective communities and overall ways of conducting themselves within their lives and with each other.
In sequences where Woody and family members congregate, scenes play out for what feels to be an extremely lengthy period of time as there is not much dialogue and frankly, no sense of action or activity whatsoever, a quality which does indeed give "Nebraska" a purposeful yet not entirely successful meandering tone. It is as if these elderly characters simply do not want to waste what is remaining of their lives with too many words combined with the fact that these characters know each other so intimately that not many words are even necessary. These are people that literally spend their days watching the road at the end of their front walks. One character actually sits in a lawn chair at street level watching and waiting for any signs of life to travel pass. This is the rhythm of life for these characters, as well as the film overall, and Alexander Payne approximates those rhythms to a rich yet somnambulant degree, which simultaneously helps and hurts the film's sense of momentum, which at times is non-existent.
At the core of "Nebraska" is, of course, the relationship between Woody and his son David and again, Payne and his screenwriter Bob Nelson make a very smart move by not adhering to the typical movie arc in which Father and son, existing in a fractured emotional state with each other, would spend the film building a bridge of compromise and new understanding. Payne and Nelson are extremely astute in ensuring that if anyone needs to build a bridge with anyone it is exclusively son to Father as Woody, being of such advanced age and possibly suffering from Alzheimer's disease is deeply set within his ways, wants and desires (and also quite possibly nearing the end of his life) and would certainly not be in a state to change and alter his perceptions of himself and the world around him. "Nebraska" charts the new course David has to undertake in order to understand Woody and his seemingly foolish pilgrimage. There is simply no meeting in the middle for Woody and David. David has to solely come to terms with who Woody is in order to move the joint relationship forward and that aspect of the film I found to be very compelling. And I have to take a moment to express that Will Forte's gentle, empathetic performance gave the film the heart that Dern's portrayal of Woody is not exactly designed to undertake, therefore making everything forgiven after inflicting the criminally unfunny character of "MacGruber" on the world.
Then, there is Bruce Dern himself, and while he is receiving quite the number of accolades for his work, and to a degree, I would say deservedly so, I do not think that this is quite the "slam dunk/home run" performance that may critics are exclaiming it is. That said, as Woody, Bruce Dern delivers a thoroughly lived in performance to the degree that you even wonder if he is truly acting at all or if he is simply in a state of being. He walks at barely a shuffle, with a hunched over physique and reticent sensibility that suggests that his time is not long for this world. While his hair is as wild as ever, it is not shown in a sense of mania but more in the unkempt style of a man who has long ceased caring what anyone ever thought of him. And yet, there is that glimmer or twinkle in the eye and most definitely, his sheer force of will that keeps him moving forwards in pursuit of this prize he is just certain is due to him despite the reality. Woody is essentially upon a Quixotian quest against...well, not exactly, reality...but perhaps a sense of hopelessness which does indeed stare him in the face during the entirety of "Nebraska" and his travels with his son. Through every face and location, we are presented with a travelogue of his life which he views as if he is saying goodbye to all that he has ever known, a factor which makes collecting his desired prize a deeply desired victory to attain.
And despite all of the film's attributes, "Nebraska" just felt so stale. Now, I certainly have no problems in any way when filmmakers revisit themes within their collected works. If I did, I could never hold onto my love for John Hughes, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese or any other of my most favorite filmmakers. But with "Nebraska," nothing ever felt that fresh or new or advanced since Alexander Payne's past films. Themes of mortality, male bonding road trips, and the ravenous avarice of family members are all major themes in "About Schmidt," "Sideways" and "The Descendants" respectively and they all show up within "Nebraska" with not one new observance to display about any of them. In fact, the film, at times, felt like a collection of the sequences Payne didn't use in his past films and so, a certain tedium set in because I felt that I had seen it all before and much better.
But, again, "Nebraska" is not a bad film or one that I will even include in my listing of my least favorite films of 2013. Not at all. It is one that I connected with only intermittently and also when I wasn't shifting in my seat. Perhaps, it is just one of those films that will mean more to me as I age but for now, "Nebraska" was just so-so.
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