I'm trying to think of what was wrong about "Nebraska," and I could find very little to pan. After seeing this quiet and effective movie, memories of "Napoleon Dynamite" came into my head, not because "Nebraska" had any storyline at all like it, but that this film was filled with characters that fit in with the lifestyle and landscape. I figured "Nebraska" might be filled with heavy emotional themes but it was the opposite. Rather than a yarn of an elderly man facing death, the film places the audience into the front seat of Woody's family and allows us - like Woody's son - to journey through the miles to learn just who they are, discovering why Woody became salty.
It's as if the miles of distance between Montana and Woody's ultimate destination of Nebraska helped roll back the years while peeling open his history as Woody revisited his family along the way. As the journey ended, I wound up realizing how different I felt about everyone, which made for a really profound journey of thoughts about family and friends. "Napoleon Dynamite" had that country-simple charm of young characters with really unique quirks, and "Nebraska" also exploits that similar charm in which the people involved are middle-aged and elderly.
Add to this film, some great B&W cinematography (the DP made a statement from the very first scene, how well the film would be crafted), fine writing filled with wit while avoiding sentimentality, and effective musical scoring, and you have a movie that I predict can be watched decades later. One could never tell that Bruce Dern in real life runs marathons, because he embraced the character of an alcoholic whose body has deteriorated more swiftly than people his age in the movie. Bob Odenkirk (Ross), June Squibb (Kate), Will Forte (David) and Stacy Keach (Ed Pegram) highlighted a terrific cast - it seems that cast and crew truly believed in this project and they put their best efforts into a charming film that I urge movie buffs to watch.
It's as if the miles of distance between Montana and Woody's ultimate destination of Nebraska helped roll back the years while peeling open his history as Woody revisited his family along the way. As the journey ended, I wound up realizing how different I felt about everyone, which made for a really profound journey of thoughts about family and friends. "Napoleon Dynamite" had that country-simple charm of young characters with really unique quirks, and "Nebraska" also exploits that similar charm in which the people involved are middle-aged and elderly.
Add to this film, some great B&W cinematography (the DP made a statement from the very first scene, how well the film would be crafted), fine writing filled with wit while avoiding sentimentality, and effective musical scoring, and you have a movie that I predict can be watched decades later. One could never tell that Bruce Dern in real life runs marathons, because he embraced the character of an alcoholic whose body has deteriorated more swiftly than people his age in the movie. Bob Odenkirk (Ross), June Squibb (Kate), Will Forte (David) and Stacy Keach (Ed Pegram) highlighted a terrific cast - it seems that cast and crew truly believed in this project and they put their best efforts into a charming film that I urge movie buffs to watch.