Philadelphia Film Festival NEBRASKA (#PFF22)

 

My food n film red carpet question to director Alexander Payne – “Since Nebraska is a road trip movie, are there any great scenes that take place in a diner along the way?”  Payne replied, he’s a big foodie as attested to in both Sideways and The Descendants, but no such scenes take place in Nebraska due to the stark aesthetic and lack of good eats in this Mid Western part of the country. Besides the movie is shot in black and white, not the best for filming cuisine.

I feel “Nebraska” is a film that takes a while to become engaging. Although this was partly due to the speakers echoing at The Prince, something I’ve never experienced seeing a film there before. Perhaps the other reason, (besides being b&w) is this family, the Grants, may seem too real and so ordinary they’re depressing. Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) is a lifetime alcoholic, broken down old man of few words, slight confusion and little regard for anyone.  He thinks he’s won a Million dollars from a Publisher’s Clearing House like sweepstakes mailing, and is determined to collect his winnings, even if he has to walk from Billings Montana to Lincoln Nebraska to get it. (I can relate as I’ve posted of my PCH destiny).

His wife Kate (played so convincingly by June Squibb) is a little crude, gossipy and annoying. Their younger son, David (Will Forte) works at something like a Best Buys and can’t even make it work with a very over weight, plain, Walmart looking girlfriend. The older son, Ross (Bob Odenkirkis) is the only one with any kind of life, married with kids, and a recent opportunity to anchor the local news, after sitting in for the regular anchor and “Not stinking the place up too much”.

I fell more in step with the movie once Woody and David’s road trip to “collect” Woody’s winnings brings them to the area where David’s father grew up, and we meet a cast of colorful because they’re colorless, characters who still live in this smaller than small, flat town.

I did upload a video of the Q&A to Youtube.  In which Will spoke of the incredible opportunity given him by Payne to play such a genuine and real character. Payne spoke a bit about how hard it is to get a studio to greenlight a black and white project, invited an aspiring filmmaker in the audience for beers after, and praised the many actors in the film who were real Nebraska natives, never having acted a day in their lives.

Hopefully it’s not giving away too much to say, if there’s a movie category called best son to an alcoholic father, Will Forte as David would win hands down!

T&T Lamb Score: 3 outta 5

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