Nebraska
Dir: Alexander Payne
2013
*****
With Nebraska, Alexander Payne does what he does best; Makes a film about something he knows about and makes it into a road movie. It's slowly paced to begin with which sets up the scene and characters perfectly. The choice to make it in black and white was an inspired one, it really captures the essence of the film without it feeling gimmicky. Bruce Dern is one of the greats, only an actor of his calibre could pull off such a performance when it generally seems like he's not doing anything at all. Nice to see Will Forte doing something worthwhile for a change too and doing it well. I think it's fair to say though that June Squibb steals the show, every scene she is in is made a hundred times better thanks to her great comedy timing. There are a few gaps between the laughs but when they do come, they are from deep in the belly, the cinema literally was totally silent one minute and completely erupted the next. The last scene was hilarious, simple and brilliantly written, in fact this might be my favorite script of the year. A great film.