Nebraska (2013)

Director-Alexander Payne

Length-115 min.

Rated-R

On the great open landscape of Billings, Montana lives a man by the name of Woody Grant (Bruce Dern). And although life took advantage of this generous fella, his generosity was finally reciprocated in the form of $1,000,000.

Even though everyone he knew seemed to doubt the validity of his "golden ticket," he was determined to make the trek down to Nebraska to collect his winnings. After some failed attempts to walk there himself, his son David (Will Forte) decided to give in to his father's delusions and take him to the Cornhusker state. 

At film's opening, the audience is introduced to Woody as a dim-witted old fool who has let his life pass him by. But as the story develops, we get some incite as to how Woody has become the man he is today. Especially when David and Woody make a stop in Woody's hometown of Hawthorne, Nebraska; helping us piece together the corners of this oddly shaped puzzle. The truth is that Woody had a tough upbringing and after he returned from the Korean War, he turned to drinking as his vice. We further learn of Woody's fair-weather friends and early marriage troubles. Which is no surprise, for his wife Kate (June Squibb) is brutally honest and continually antagonizes her husband, but provides a nice sense of comedic relief throughout. 

Director Alexander Payne did a phenomenal job in capturing the mundane life of a farmer from a small-knit community, while also displaying how uneventful life can truly be. What I love most about Payne's films is his ability to be severely realistic, but conclude with a happy ending in that very same fashion. Much like his Academy Award-winning film, The Descendants, this film will warm your heart.

This isn't a film about cashing in on your prize, but about self-discovery and recognizing where you came from.