Nebraska: Alexander Payne

[Spoilers Ahead]

Films like Alexander Payne's Nebraska give me hope for the future of American cinema. Here is a devastatingly powerful film about hopes, dreams, and growing old set against the decayed industrial skeleton of the American Midwest. Payne seems to channel Aki Kaurismäki and Hsiao-hsien Hou with his sparse, deliberate pacing, stark shot compositions that embrace emptiness, and spasms of dark, absurd humor. The film follows David Grant (Will Forte) as he wearily accompanies his deluded father Woody (Bruce Dern) down to Lincoln, Nebraska after he receives a voucher in the mail saying that he won a $1 million sweepstakes prize. David desperately tries to explain to his father that it's a scam, but Woody, perhaps in the early stages of Alzheimer's, simply cannot comprehend that he was lied to. So the two travel down to Nebraska where they temporarily stop in Woody's hometown of Hawthorne to spend some time with his family. Despite David's pleas, Woody lets slip that he has "won" a million dollars while at a bar. The news that Woody's a millionaire spreads like wildfire and, much to David's horror, everyone believes the news. It isn't long before old acquaintances and family members come a-knocking to "collect" on "old debts." Perhaps the most tragic thing about Nebraska is that for Woody, collecting the million dollars isn't about the money. It's about feeling some kind of validation for a life spent slaving away for other people. When Woody tells the people at the bar about the sweepstakes, we realize that the overwhelming love, approval, and adoration thrown upon him by the townsfolk may be the first time in his life that he was treated that way. The dialogue, as brilliant as it is, only alludes to the emotional undercurrents in Nebraska. It is in moments of silence and contemplation that the film's interior meaning reveals itself. Case in point: near the end of the film the truth about Woody's winnings comes out and a local bully waves his stolen sweepstakes voucher around a bar while everyone laughs. When Woody comes in, the bully holds the voucher up and taunts him to come and take it. And in the most brilliant moment of the film, Woody does just that: he hobbles over to him and takes the voucher. Both the bully and the bar patrons are stunned and shamed. For in that moment, they realize what the audience has known all along: it might be a sham, but it is very real to Woody. And when they watch Woody take the voucher back without cowering, pleading, begging, or losing his dignity, they feel nothing but shame in their actions. And all of this is done in a couple of shots with no dialogue.

8/10