Nebraska

2013 "Life's not about winning or losing. It's about how you get there in the end."
7.7| 1h55m| R| en| More Info
Released: 15 November 2013 Released
Producted By: Bona Fide Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

An aging, booze-addled father takes a trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim what he believes to be a million-dollar sweepstakes prize.

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Reviews

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?
CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
marianajb I have never heard of this film or anyone involved in it, when I finished it I din't understand why because this film is amazingly done, one of the few that has the honor of calling it a motion picture, a form of art, that is what it is: art. Strating with a cinematography that not anyone dares to use, and in here work with a sense of pure beauty. Then the film edition was one of the things that impressed me the most, it changes of scene so delicate and profound just perfectly to the screenplay. The actors with amazing performances, just when I thought they can't do better, they just overcome my expectations and did it ten times more amazing. This type of screenplay is the one of my favorites, from a story that some people think is boring, for me are the ones where you can take the best of it; starting with something simple, that seemed hopeless, but then with the characters that also lived simple lives, but each one of them had their virtues and ideas to live for, a history behind them. I also loved the reality in the film. The dialogue they used is like gold transformed into words. and then the music that showed tranquility in a place where a lot of negative but not terrible things happened. This are the kind of films that should last forever.If you like classics this one will fill you with joy. I loved every second and minute of it.
Mobithailand Watching a film like Nebraska makes me wonder what exactly is the purpose of watching a movie? Well, for me, here are a few of the possible reasons and some of the feelings I expect to experience when I watch a good film.• Entertainment • Amusement, laughs • Excitement, thrills • Shock, fear, horror • Personal edification & knowledge • Enrichment, inspiration • Happiness • Sadness • Sentiment and nostalgia. • So where does Nebraska fit in? I confess that for about the first 20 minutes, I found the subject matter so dire that I almost gave up, and the only reason I kept going was because I had undertaken to write a small review, which I could hardly do if I didn't watch it. Thankfully, it did start to get a little better and in the end I was able to watch the remainder without resorting to 'fast forward' or the 'off' button.So what was so bad about it? (I hear you asking.) Let me start by saying what was good about it. It was well acted; it was beautifully filmed, (within seconds you forget that the film is in black and white, as the cinematography is so riveting); it was well- written; it was well directed; and, very occasionally, it was mildly amusing.So what was wrong with it then??? It was so effing depressing! It is a road movie about a senile, alcoholic old man thinks he has won a million dollars when he receives a scam magazine subscription flyer and is determined to travel nearly a thousand miles across America to claim his prize. It could have been written with a fair measure of humour, but sadly, it wasn't. The old man is a very unpleasant, cantankerous old bastard, and by all accounts he always had been – according to his two, not particularly charismatic sons. His wife clearly hates him and can't wait to have him put in a home. His youngest son has a dead- end job selling home hi-fi systems to people who don't want them in the middle of a recession and just about everyone in the movie appears to be in financial straits. The old man's son is somehow persuaded to drive his senile father across country to claim his non-existent prize and on the way they stop at the old man's hometown where his long forgotten friends and some of his relatives still live.While there, he stays with more depressing members of his family who have two dreadful sons who believe his silly 'millionaire' story and try to rob him of the winning ticket. Other relatives come to visit and fights break out as they and other old friends decide it is payback time and demand some of the winnings from the senile old man. But you don't really feel sorry for the senile old bastard as he has absolutely zero redeeming qualities. You just don't care.I could go on and on but it's too depressing to write about.The director is Alexander Payne who directed the wonderful film, 'About Schmidt' – which is another road movie that starred the brilliant Jack Nicholson in his prime.'About Schmidt' was as wonderful as 'Nebraska' is dire. Nebraska is mid-numbingly brutal on the senses. It has no uplifting moments, not even near the end, when the son puts his father behind the wheel of a truck to give him a few moments of rare happiness.Sure, there are occasional moments of mild amusement in the second part of the movie, such as when the two sons, in an effort to repay a supposed grudge of 30 years standing, steal an ancient compressor from the wrong, (run-down) farm, but believe me, these moments are few are far between and they really ain't that funny. Indeed, everyone in the movie seems to bear grudges against everyone else and there is total absence of anything approaching goodwill or love – or even common to garden pity. The overriding message of this movie is just how depressingly awful are some of these small-towns that criss-cross the great American landscape, and how miserable and impoverished are its inhabitants – especially when they grow old and start to lose their marbles.The professional reviewers are just purring about this movie and they all think it is one of the finest films of the year. Even most of the user reviewers on IMDb are positively glowing and it gets an incredible star rating of 7.2 out of 10. I suppose if you want to spend just under two hours being depressed by alcoholism, senility, poverty, slimy fast-food outlets, dusty, cheerless bars, couch- potato TV addicts, unfulfilled lives, greed, jealousy, bigoted ignorance and all the horrors of grim, Hicksville America, then this is the movie for you.It's kind of strange, as Americans seem to really like this movie, yet to me, if it's accurate, it's an embarrassing indictment on small town America. For the record, back in 2,000, I drove right across 'Hicksville America' and what I found was a million miles removed from the towns and folk as portrayed in the movie, Nebraska. I find it difficult to believe that such communities with such unremittingly grim inhabitants exist in quite the way depicted in this movie.But Director Payne was actually born in Nebraska, (of Greek descent) so maybe he knows better than me…..
tieman64 Alexander Payne directs "Nebraska". Another of the director's "road movies", it stars Bruce Dern as Woody Grant, an elderly man who thinks he's won a million dollars. In an attempt to collect his winnings, Grant journeys from Montana to Nebraska. Joining him is his son David (Will Forte)."Nebraska" recalls "The Last Picture Show", "Paris, Texas" and David Lynch's "The Straight Story". Like those films, it portrays a world in decline, dreams shattered, hopes dashed and aspirations stifled. Where "Nebraska" differs from its siblings is in the way its characters all parasitize one another. Everyone's extinguishing the dreams of someone else or using someone else to make their own desires come true. As a result, Payne's cast drift like bodies sucked dry by vampires, forlorn, dying, or on the verge of surrender. Even the film's million dollar prize is but a scam by a magazine company. Even the film's aesthetic – chilly blacks and whites – suggests a world sucked dry of life and leached of all colour. Even the film's settings, lonely and abandoned, suggest a world in decay. Even the film's...But David refuses to abide. He begins to empathise with his father, who longs for heaps of money and a brand new truck. The film's million dollar prize, David comes to realise, has become his father's last ditch attempt to reverse a lifetime of disappointment. "All he wanted was to sleep, was to dream of escape," characters say in "Paris, Texas". Woody Grant seeks a similar flight from reality. It's a flight which David facilitates. He buys his father a new truck and lets him drive it through his old home town; the bragging rights of an insecure man. An unappreciated man. And, at times, a monster of a man.Alfred Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt", one of the first films to subvert America's Norman Rockwellesque image of herself, ended with a little girl lying so that The American Dream might be preserved. "Nebraska" ends in a similar way. Neither David nor Woody really believe that a million dollars have been won, or that a life has been salvaged, but they choose to believe anyway. They choose to preserve a myth.Like most of Payne's films, "Nebraska's" female characters are poorly written and/or used as easy comedic props. Still, Bruce Dern is excellent as Woody and Will Forte is fine in a rare serious role. Elsewhere the film offers some nice landscape shots, all sad and wistful. June Squibb co-stars.7.9/10 – See "Away from Her" and "Paris, Texas".
Juanchy Gz Yeah, maybe I am a bit late reviewing this movie, but I had to.This movie got my attention long time ago, but I just couldn't see it when it got released in 2013.It was a great story about a broken relationship of a son and his father. Dialogs are pretty much everything in the movie. Catches your attention in every moment till' the end of it.Acting was just fabulous. Characters are so well played that I even felt identified with them.There's one thing that catched my attention too, it was that this movie shows how interested the people is, and it's sad to say it, but unfortunately we are that way and always gonna be. Coming back to the movie, it is even funny at some times. So if you've not seen it yet (witch is probably wrong) or you are thinking of watching it and for some reason you are here and see my review, I strongly recommend this movie to you.9/10