Nebraska (Director: Alexander Payne)
Nominees: The Missing Picture, Blue Jasmine, Snowpiercer, Philomena, The Great Beauty, American Hustle, Dallas Buyers Club, The Selfish Giant, We Are the Best, The Bling Ring Oscars Pick: 12 Years A Slave
Nominees: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, The Wolf of Wall Street
My best picture winner stars Bruce Dern as an old man (Woody Grant) who convinces his youngest son David (Will Forte) to drive him to Nebraska so that he can collect a million dollar prize he wrongly believes he has won. Along the way, they stop at his hometown for a bit of a family reunion and trip down memory lane. The film can be bitter and painful and show us the worse sides of the family dynamic, but also the better parts. In total it's warm, funny and wise.
A second viewing of Nebraska was even more rewarding than the first as I saw how (in some instances) even seemingly small, innocuous statements were saying something to the greater whole. From Dern telling his son that he didn't have much time, to a scene between David and his ex-girlfriend... who tells him that she wants something, anything to happen. Each line bears more weight, addresses more than the situation at hand. They sum up the frustration people feel when they see time ticking away, and the pile of missed opportunities and poor decisions that have mounted over the course of a life. We reach a point where we stop to wonder how we got to where we are.
As with Payne's About Schmidt and the Decedents this picture is about legacies and family. Those we are close to and those who have become strangers (and a few you wish you never knew). I saw recognizable traits, the easy comfort, the shorthand speech of those who have known each other for years. The mundane, and the uncomfortable. As when folks begin to believe in Woody's millions, and we bear witness to the greed and pettiness that emerges.
Grade-A performances are had throughout. June Squibb is a hoot as Woody's spitfire wife, Stacy Keach is effective as an old business partner, whose reptilian smile does little to hide his menace. Forte acts as our guide, as he explores his fathers past and tries to understand where he came from, and maybe where he's going. Bruce Dern is the glue that holds this thing together and he is incredible. Woody is a man of few words, who drinks too much and trusts too much. He's at the end of his life, is just trying to hold onto some shred of dignity, and he has never really had the chance to be a big shot, until now.
Bob Nelson's screenplay is razor sharp, bitingly funny but also thoughtful (I love the bit near the end when a woman asks David if his father has Alzheimer’s, he says no, he just believes what people tell him, and the woman responds, “Oh, that’s too bad”. Film quote of the year)
Damon Wise at Empire summed it up well by calling Nebraska, “A charming road movie that develops into a full-blown study of life and roots, offering a beautiful insight into the way families migrate and change.” Director Alexander Payne has yet to disappoint (this was written before Downsizing was released) and Nebraska stands with its kin, About Schmidt as one of his finest and one of my favorites.
The lies people tell others and to themselves is a constant theme, and the ending had me empathizing for someone who really wasn't very pleasant. There’s no one to catch her fall, no ‘kindness of strangers’ to rely upon. As heartbreaking as Streetcar was, Woody doesn't grant us even the small comfort of knowing that Jasmine will be cared for by someone, somewhere.
I posted a few thoughts on other films liked, here...2013. As to Oscars best picture winner, 12 Years a Slave...
Director Steve McQueen’s films are marked by scenes that burn into your memory, but his characterizations can be thin, and in lieu of really saying something insightful, he will pull a Mel Gibson and just beat the hell out of his players, either psychologically or physically. And that’s the case with "12 Years". Many characters are types rather than fully formed people: Brad Pitt plays the abolitionist, nothing more. Fassbender is there to show us how cruel and terrible slavery is (a point already made on the series Roots decades before and in many films thereafter), but I never felt like I got in any deeper than that.
The film does strike a nerve; it’s painful to watch. And Chiwetel Ejiofor gives an amazing performance that traverses a wide emotional spectrum. On a visceral level, I think it succeeds, and I number it among the better movies of the year... but not the best. It just doesn't say anything new (other than how Northern free men were kidnapped and sold into slavery) and lacks the layers and profundity I’d wish for.
Honorable Mentions:
Bruce Dern, Nebraska * Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis * James Cromwell, Still Mine * Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street & The Great Gatsby * Joaquin Phoenix, The Immigrant * Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips * Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave * Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight
Honorable Mentions:
Danai Gurira, Mother of George * Luminița Gheorghiu, Child's Pose * Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant * Brie Larson, Short Term 12 * Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle * Judi Dench, Philomena * Amy Adams, American Hustle * Agata Kulesza, Ida * Tilda Swinton, Only Lovers Left Alive * Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux, Blue is the Warmest Colour
Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
* Ran out of space on my actress list, but I also liked Bérénice Bejo, The Past, Fanny Ardant in Bright Days Ahead, Julie Delpy in Before Midnight, Agata Trzebuchowska, Ida
