London Film Festival: Nebraska

 

 

Alexander Payne’s Nebraska portrays the family dynamics between an elderly, alcoholic father and his alienated, unsympathetic son as they travel from Montana to Nebraska to claim a million dollar Mega Sweepstake Marking prize. Alexander Payne’s movies usually evolve around the theme of his protagonist’s endeavour for self-fulfilment and individualism which is exactly where Nebraska begins with Woody Grant played by Bruce Dern walking along the busy high way alone, when the police pull over asking him what he is doing, Woody replies “Walking” when they ask where, he replies “Nebraska”. For those who are unaware, Montana to Nebraska is around 800 miles, but this is a common theme throughout the movie, no one will stand in Woody’s single minded determination from collecting his prize money, even if he has to walk. His son, David Grant played by Will Forte, knows the whole thing is a scam but eventually gives into his father’s fantasy due to his own wish to escape the realities of Montana for a few days. This is where the pair’s road trip begins in which they encounter friends, family and acquaintances along the way in this heart warming story of family value and show the repercussions of loyalty and greed when money is involved. Money changes everything and David tires to penetrate his impenetrable father, but Alexander Payne attempts to demonstrate that sometimes change isn’t for the better, some things are best left the way they are. The film is shot entirely in black and white, which I felt perfectly symbolised the overall tone of the movie, a timeless effect to present the downbeat memories of these character’s lives from a previous era. The cinematography was beautifully shot and looked even more stunning in black and white, especially the various mid-western landscapes we encounter along the way. Most of the film’s narrative takes place in the town in which Woody grew up as a child, David encounters various figures from Woody’s past and finally begins to make sense of his father’s erratic behaviour. The town loved Woody; he was a very likeable kind hearted man. So what changed? Because this certainly isn’t the father David has known.  

Now I know this might sound a bit depressing but I assure you this movie is far from depressing. Bob Nelson’s screenplay is hilarious; the dialogue and interaction between Woody and David is fantastic. June Squibb, who plays David’s mother Kate, will have you crying with laughter, they definitely gave her some great material to play with. Kevin Kunkel and Devin Ratray deserve a mention too for their comedic portrays of David’s two idiotic brainless cousins. David’s brother Randy is played by Bob Odenkirk aka Saul Goodman while Stacey Keach portrays Ed Pegram, Woody’s former co-worker in which Woody has been fixated stole his compressor all them years ago, which is just hilarious in itself. But Bruce Dern and Will Forte are the heart and soul of the movie, you believe every moment of their relationship because it is played and written perfectly especially their closing scene when they finally reach Nebraska. Bruce Dern’s performance isn’t flashy; he doesn’t really say much throughout the movie, but his dry delivery throughout the movie is outstanding. It’s also the moments in which Dern doesn’t say anything that really capture the true nature of his performance. Will Forte is equally outstanding in his portray of trying to deal with his father’s irresponsible delusion along while defending the honour of his family from the vultures trying to claim their share of Woody’s winnings. Alexander Payne expertly balances the dramatic elements of the script with the more comedic tone which really helps bring to life these characters. I believe Payne has succeeded in creating a movie closer to his critically acclaimed hit Sideways exceeding his previous effort The Descendants along the way.

 

Alexander Payne joined us for a Q and A session. The BFI host asked Payne a long question regarding the use of time during the movie which I didn’t quite catch but Payne replied “Couldn’t you of asked me that before we came on, so I had time to prepare”. Payne came across as a very likeable guy; you can see his personally shine through his work. The point was raised that this is the first movie in which Alexander Payne didn’t originally write the screenplay, so what made him choose to direct Nebraska. Payne replied that he is sent hundreds of screenplays all the time but this screenplay caught his eye because it was called Nebraska, which is where Payne is originally from and was only ninety pages long. He went on to explain that once he read the script he could picture the movie entirely and knew he wanted to direct it. A women then gave a long speech about her own personal family experiences before asking Payne directly if he could relate to any of the characters in the movie. Payne went on to explain that while he didn’t originally intend to create a relationship between himself and the characters that he believed the themes shown in the movie are universal and anybody could relate to these family situations, which I agree completely. Payne discussed the filming process and how directing is 90% about the casting, he spent around a year looking for the right people for the roles because once you’ve cast the right person, the role is brought to life naturally. He spoke about how he likes to use non-actors in his movies, so he searched for real Nebraska farmers and workers etc to be in the movie, putting adverts in newspapers around Nebraska for families to send in video tapes of their elderly mothers, fathers or grandparents because he knew they wouldn’t themselves. He truly wanted real Nebraskan faces in the movie. Another question highlighted the music used in the film, which I didn’t mention was great. Payne mentioned he was introduced to music of an acoustic chamber music group called Tin Hat in which they temporarily used as the music for the film during production until they found the music they wanted. But during filming Payne felt the music style fitted the film perfectly, so he contacted band member Mark Orton whether he’d like to compose an original score for the movie. Payne spoke how the studio originally disagreed the movie should be shot in black and white, because they felt it wasn’t commercial enough. Payne replied that it didn’t seem to be an issue for movies such as Manhattan, Raging Bull and Schindler’s List and most of the movies he watches are in black and white, so it’s always been his ambition to shoot a black and white movie. When Nebraska came along he felt this was the perfect movie to do this. The last question asked was does Payne think that the movie Nebraska will help re-boost the economy in Nebraska like Sideways did for California. Payne replied “Yeah it will make people not want to go there” which I thought was pretty funny.

So how do I think Nebraska will do with the Academy? Well Alexander Payne seems to be a likeable guy with them. Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates were nominated for Best Leading Actor and Best Supporting Actress for About Schmidt. Sideways was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Actress respectively and won Best Adapted Screenplay. Paul Giamatti was robbed of a nomination but that’s another story. While The Descendants was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing and George Clooney for Best Leading Actor. Once again Alexander Payne won Best Adapted Screenplay which is where I believe Nebraska stands its strongest chance. Bob Nelson’s screenplay was fantastic and surely deserves to not only be nominated for Best Original Screenplay but win. The rest of Nebraska’s success depends on how well it’s received by the Academy, Bruce Dern and June Squibb stand a chance at a nomination by they face stiff competition. Nebraska may sneak in for Best Picture mainly due to Alexander Payne’s status with the Academy but only time will tell. Either way Nebraska is a joyful experience that you’d be stupid to miss out on.

Oscar Potential

Best Picture

Best Director, Alexander Payne
Best Actor in a Leading Role, Bruce Dern
Best Actress in a Supporting Role, June Squibb
Best Original Screenplay
Best Editing
Best Cinematography
Best Original Score