RyanCShowers — 12 years ago(February 08, 2014 11:11 AM)

http://feelthefilms.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/nebraska-2013/
Alexander Payne's Nebraska is another entry to the thick notebook documenting the memorable films of 2013. The film is captured in black and white cinematography, an acute decision by Payne and his team. Could the bleak view give us an insight to the decay visual view of elderly people in society? Is the choice to broaden the tactile of small towns? Or is the lack of color to show the anxious, ill-eased experience of returning to your place of origin? All of the above and more. Nebraska an impeccable motion picture initiated by the Bob Nelson's screenplay that stabilizes its conceptual possibilities through humorous dialogue.
If you know the name of the attached director, the bar of expectations rises. The artistic side of Payne's direction does not encumber Nebraska. He permits the scene on the page to play out with the actors and only brushes the surface to get stray pieces of the film in order. Nebraska is not a film that aches for a director to manipulate everyone involved to for it to work. Not that Payne deprives himself of visualizing the film with creativity, he carefully chooses the moments that will evoke specific reactions from his viewer.
Nebraska reeks of old age. It is Payne's mission to facilitate understanding of the inevitable sadness that comes with adding years to our life. The plot is motivated by Dern's character to "do" something. The fear of accomplishing nothing in our lives becomes a robust presence when it is too late. When the opportunity for Dern to leave something for his children arises, he understandably wants to believe in it. The cinematography paints Nebraska as a dried-out photograph, like the nostalgia of a fast-beating pulse of the past. Store signs are worn out by letters have falling off the titles, likely symbolizing doddery wits of the elders: there are a few missing components, but enough remains present to assume a meaning.
After years of standing aside and allowing the spotlight to illuminate someone else, Bruce Dern has a role that allows him to boast his talent. Dern is damn good in his thorough depiction of aging, guilt, and hope. Internally he feels out of place next to the other characters and the audience, a fitting distance aged people often find themselves trapped in. The portrait on the poster reflects the internal meaning Dern's character: a hollow shadow of an old man filled with regret. The film's greatest attribute is June Squibb who supports Nebraska for every second she is granted by the script. Squibb creates maybe the funniest character of the year, a comical role that originates in bitterness. Will Forte narrates Dern's journey through Nebraska, though the role does not offer a showcase for him, but he adequately stands by his costars.
Nebraska is funnier than anyone would guess from the posters, the plot descriptions, or even the trailers. I was laughing out loud numerous times during my viewing, many of which are pushed by momentum from Squibb's comic relief, others by the absurdity of Dern's delusions meeting Fortre's view of reality.
Nebraska has a huge misstep in Squibb's five minutes of judgement at a cemetery while sheda0 recaps people's lives to her son. The scene itself is thoroughly amusing until the conclusion, then the film plunges six feet under for those five seconds. Hopefully Squibb's humorous build-up is the token people take away from that scene, not the punctuation. I may not be from the Midwest specifically, but I was raised in a small town in Pennsylvania, which allowed me to be overcome with stimulation in the accuracy of the "small-town" mise-en-scene. Company trucks riding along the high-way, the stillness of the air, the interior house designs, even down to minuscule details such as the restaurant bathrooms stay true to the standard of verisimilitude.
Rating: 8.4
Grade: A
Stars: 4/4
Feel the Films: A Blog by RCS

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