"Nebraska"

Last year's Best Picture nominee, opens with a police car picking up a dazed, disoriented old man trudging down the highway. His family is dumbfounded as the booze-addled, obstinate Woody (Oscar nominated Bruce Dern) keeps setting off on a 900 mile trek across, "Nebraska," to claim his bogus million dollar sweepstakes winnings.

Nobody seems to know why he is doing it. And Oscar nominated director Alexander Payne doesn't give any easy answers. Perhaps it’s to avoid his eminent morality. (He says that he doesn't have much time.) Maybe it’s a last ditch effort to do something with his wasted life. He seems to have little to live for being stuck in a marriage with a woman he doesn't even like. We don’t know how long he has been numbing himself with liquor, but it’s been a while.

All of this could be very depressing, but Payne gives us comic relief in the form of Woody’s ornery, long suffering wife (Oscar nominated June Squibb) as the foul-mouthed voice of reason, “I never even knew the son of a bitch wanted to be a millionaire. He should have thought about that years ago and worked for it.”

Woody’s responsible son (Will Forte) is called in to talk some sense into the old man. But when Woody won’t be dissuaded, his son sees a chance to bond with the father he never knew. He takes some time off from his meaningless job as an electronics salesman to join him.

We see the story through his son’s tired, exasperated eyes. Like him, we long to uncover some meaning in this cross-country road trip. Perhaps Woody needs to reconnect with his family roots. But there is no satisfaction in the family reunion. The image embedded in my mind is of the men in the family all sitting in the bland living room facing the television set. Even after their long separation, the two brothers barely relate to each other aside from some complacent muttering about which sports teams are playing.

We feel the son’s rising frustration as he attempts to find some redeeming value in Woody’s life. He asks his father if he is ever sorry that he married his wife. Woody answers, “All the time.” “But you must have loved her once?” Not really. It seems that Woody has settled for this life. The son becomes more agitated as Woody keeps running off to get sloshed at local dives, spouting off about his big windfall. Woody offers comfort his irritated son, “Have a beer with your old man. Be somebody.”

The story livens up when his wife and other son come to “rescue” Woody. As the family deals with unresolved issues and greedy “friends” and relatives in his hometown, we see a little bit about what made Woody, woody. It is genuinely touching to see Woody’s squabbling wife finally stick up for him, explaining why he doesn't owe these people a damn thing!

Payne paints a stark portrait of family responsibility and the silent isolation and resignation of rural America.

Movie blessings!
Jana Segal
reelinspiration.blogspot.com

"Nebraska," was also nominated for Best Screenplay (Bob Nelson) and Best Picture in 2014.

"The Descendants"

There are times in our lives when our world comes crashing down and we are completely unprepared. Shocked and clueless, we grope around making awkward attempts to deal with the overwhelming situation or to just get by. Like the day my whole life was thrown out of whack when my husband of 23 years announced he wanted a divorce and moved out that afternoon. I did my share of groping to find my footing - not always handling it with the best of grace.

I guess that's why I relate to Alexander Payne's, “The Descendants.” Payne (and Oscar winning co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash) aren't afraid to present a flawed main character, Matt King (George Clooney), who is absolutely clueless about how to handle the life shattering situation he finds himself in when his wife ends up in a coma as the result of a boating accident. To add insult to injury, he discovers that she was cheating on him at the time. It's a one-two punch that leaves him stunned and reeling.

Matt lives in Hawaii, in paradise, but has been so caught up in business transactions that he can't take in the beauty around him. His time has been spent negotiating deals with vacation resorts and condos to sell the pristine forest entrusted to him and the other descendants. This piece of land represents all that he has lost in his life. There was a time that he took his family on regular camping trips there. But he has lost his connection with the land and his family. He has become an absentee husband and father. In fact, he is absent from his own life.

Sometimes it takes a catastrophic event to shake us awake after sleep walking through life. (It took my husband leaving me...) Having been JOLTED awake, Matt is ill equipped to deal with the fall out from the accident on his two troubled daughters. George Clooney brings out the humor as his character gropes around trying to make some sense of the whole mess. When he hears that his wife was cheating, Matt, still in shock, charges off in his clumsy flip flops around a ridiculous circular drive – in search of answers, anything... Later, we can see the inner turmoil in his eyes even as his daughter splashes in the ocean and life goes on around him. Once he has dealt with his own issues, he is better equipped to help others cope with the tragedy. Finally fully awake, Matt sees that he is a part of something bigger than himself. He realizes his responsibility to the land, himself, and those around him. Procuring his place in the world puts his problems in perspective.

As for me, I'm grateful to be awake and learning life's lessons.

Movie blessings!
Jana Segal
www.reelinspiration.blogspot.com