Nebraska (2013) ****/*****
At this point in his career, Alexander Payne has made features about a woman contemplating going through with an abortion, high schoolers competing in an election for student body president, a retired widow on a road trip, a duo of friends on a wine tasting tour, and a man struggling with the impending death of his critically injured wife, and while there would appear to be few similarities to those plots on their surfaces, they all still play as being similar due to the darkly comedic and starkly realist sensibilities that he brings to the table. His latest film, a shot in black and white road trip story that stars Will Forte as a schlubby everyman named David and Bruce Dern as his Alzheimer’s suffering father, Woody, sticks to his established sensibility and fits into that filmography well, so you can go into it without having to deal with any surprises.
The story we’re told starts when Dern’s old man character receives a sweepstakes notice claiming that he’s won a million dollars. Despite the protests of everyone around him that he’s begin scammed, he vows to walk all the way from Wyoming to Nebraska in order to claim his prize, and is so intent on the matter that eventually Forte’s character has to agree to take off work and drive him the ludicrous distance — and thus we have a road trip story where maybe, just maybe, two characters who have been stuck in ruts might end their journey by coming to some sort of life epiphany, or at least gain some new perspective due to the change of scenery.
The debate surrounding Payne’s movies generally seems to focus on the question of whether or not he has contempt for his characters and is putting them on the screen just to exploit and make fun of them, and that debate is just silly. While there are a handful of side characters in his films that may be introduced just for laughs — as there are in anything comedic anyone makes — if you think that he’s not being honest with his portrayal of his main characters or isn’t genuinely invested in bringing them to life in an organic way, then you’re just not paying close enough attention to what he’s doing. Payne’s movies are stark, they’re bleak, but so is life at times — especially life in the sort of Midwestern environments that he grew up in, and where he sets many of his films. Just because a filmmaker pulls no punches when pointing a camera at the more unpleasant aspects of life doesn’t mean that he’s being exploitive, especially when you’re talking about a storyteller whose films always contain moments as bittersweet and moving as Payne’s do. Every time I hear someone criticize Payne’s work as being nihilist and cynical, I feel like I’m listening to the opinion of someone who stopped watching after the first act.
Speaking of which, the tone of Nebraska is set as being depressing from the very first frame, which is a roadside landscape that’s stark, dead, and full of muddy, trampled snow. This is the reality of the long winters that hit the center of the country, and it isn’t pretty. From there the bleakness and the depression just carries on. All of the characters in this movie except for David and, at times, Woody are unpleasant to be around, all of the environments are lifeless and bland, the story is deliberate and slow to develop, and our protagonists don’t appear to be leading anywhere other than toward doom. All of Payne’s movies contain moments that are difficult to watch, but maybe more than any of his others, Nebraska can be quite a bit of work to get through.
But, like the rest of Payne’s films, it also offers up rewards that stem from doing the work. The trials and tribulations of this doomed trip are often darkly hilarious, the Woody character gets developed to the point where — instead of remaining an obstinate curmudgeon — he becomes three-dimensional and nuanced, and the performances are just first rate. Well, the performances from the lead actors are first rate. There are a couple of roles that seemed to be played by amateurs who immediately jumped out as being really amateur, but nothing that amounts to more than a line or two of dialogue, so they don’t derail the film. Most importantly though, like he always does, Payne is able to create moments in his third act that resonate emotionally and hit you in the heart and gut, which makes the slow journey to get to them feel less slow in retrospect.
It’s true that it takes a bit of patience to get to the eventual emotional catharsis, and it’s true that the bulk of the characters in Nebraska are static and miserable (even Forte’s David is too much of an endlessly good and amiable sad sack to really be interesting), but the development of Dern’s character and the authenticity of his performance is the real heart of what’s being offered up here, and it’s worth the price of admission alone. Dern is an actor who has been at it for decade after decade at this point, and he’s someone who’s generally always done really strong work, but when all is said and done this could very well be remembered as the role that defines his career. It’s that dang good. And though Nebraska isn’t strong enough overall to be one of my favorite Alexander Payne films, it’s still an easy recommendation to make.
