NEBRASKA screening 5th SEPTEMBER

 



Review by David Stratton
Woody Grant, BRUCE DERN, is a stubborn, crotchety old man who lives in Billings, Montana. He's become convinced he's won $1 million in a sweepstake and is certain he has to front up at an office in Lincoln, Nebraska, 1,367 km away, to collect his winnings. Woody refuses to believe his wife, Kate, JUNE SQUIBB, or son David, WILL FORTE, when they tell him it's just a promotion and he hasn't won a thing. Woody is so determined to get to Lincoln that David, a salesman who recently broke up with his girlfriend, finally agrees to drive him there - but there are several detours along the way.


Bruce Dern is at the top of his game in this film.  
It’s not often an actor gets the best role of his career at age 77, especially when that actor is Bruce Dern, who has more than a dozen great performances on a resume that dates back to the 1960s. But in Alexander Payne’s latest film, Dern is nothing short of magnificent. What a joy it is to watch him playing such a miserable SOB. 

Shot in beautiful tones of black and white (and silver and gray), “Nebraska” is steeped in nostalgia, regret and bittersweet moments. Yet it’s also a pitch-perfect cinematic poem about the times we live in.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ONE FINE MORNING 3rd May 2024

Image
  Sandra (Seydoux) lives in a small apartment in Paris with her eight-year-old daughter. Her parents have long separated, and Sandra regularly visits her father, Georg (Pascal Greggory), an academic whose health has begun to deteriorate.  Whilst she and her strong-willed mother (Nicole Garcia) struggle to agree on finding Georg a safe place to live, Sandra unexpectedly reconnects with an old friend, Clément (Melvil Poupaud). A passionate relationship begins to form, but not without repercussions. Hansen-Løve,  so finely observant of the small nuances of human interaction,  weaves autobiographical elements into this delicate and heartfelt story of familial and romantic connections, and finding strength against challenging odds. Seydoux is radiant as her lead, bringing tremendous warmth and empathy to her role and the film as a whole. Enthusiastically embraced by both critics and audiences as one of the best films of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, ONE FINE MORNING is, ...
Read more

REDEMPTION OF A ROGUE 2nd February 2024

Image
  The exhilarating, Bible-inspired, pitch-black comedy 'Redemption of a Rogue' centers on a prodigal son returning to his rural Ireland hometown to seek redemption for his sins.  It’s been seven years since Jimmy Cullen (Aaron Monaghan) set foot in (the fictional) Ballylough, a godforsaken spot of near-perpetual rain. Back then, he departed in disgrace, leaving behind younger brother Damien (Kieran Roche), a brutal father who raised them with his fists (Hugh O’Brien) and embittered, onetime girlfriend Patricia (Liz Fitzgibbon). Helmer Doherty cleverly doles out information about Jimmy’s shameful past in the form of flashbacks in a 16mm format that reveal his wrongdoings. Amusingly, although these episodes show events from years ago, he’s still pictured as his current bearded, battered, adult self. Forced by the terms of his deceased father’s will to hang around Ballylough until the rain stops and the old man can be buried, Jimmy suffers through a personal purgatory of suicidal...
Read more

EVERYBODY HATES JOHAN 1st March 2024

Image
  Everybody Hates Johan  is a Norwegian comedy of charm and wisdom. The setting is a small barren island, far from most other Norwegians. The gross regional product appears to be wind. How the people make a living is a mystery, as we see no fishing boats. The weather has not made everyone kind: in fact, they mostly enjoy baiting each other, especially Johan and his family. By the time Johan is about five, he is an orphan, cared for by his aunt and uncle. His only friend is the girl next door, Solvor. Their love affair will run long but not smooth, through more thick than thin. The adult Johan just adores lighting sticks of dynamite and lobbing them into the nearby bogs. No wonder the neighbours hate him. It’s hard to describe the charm of this small but clamorous film. The beauty of the setting contrasts with the puny side of the people. Nature has not ennobled them. Johan is the constant victim of awful behaviour, which makes sure we are always on his side. The...
Read more