Nebraska

Bruce Dern is an old guy who has two sons, Will Forte and Saul from breaking bad. Bruce has lost his marbles a little recently and has recieved a letter in the post saying he has won $1million. Will thinks it's a scam but keeps getting phone calls saying Bruce has been found walking to Lincoln Nebraska in order to collect his winnings. To appease his father he agrees to drive him to Lincoln to help in his quest. The drive is long so they decide to stop off in somewhere to see Bruce's extended family. Saul and the mum join them and we all bond a little over Bruce's apparent mental degradation.

Of all of this years Oscar nominees this is the one I knew least about. I knew it had Bruce Dern in it..........that's it.......oh and it's about Nebraska. In this day and age of technology and social media it is nigh on impossible to go into a film with no background knowledge and I am so glad that I managed it with this. It starts off on a quiet tone with Bruce trundling down the slip road of a highway and getting picked up by the police. The opening shot is devoid of much sound and is shot in stunning black and white. We then get introduced to the very simple premise of the film and meet the rest of the family. The set up is deliberately quick as we can then focus on the familial relationships within the film particularly with Will Forte's character and his alcoholic, emotionally absent father. The acting is spot on from everybody, and I mean literally everybody, even the smallest characters are completely believable as real life human beings. Due to this it feels like you are actually travelling with Will and Bruce on their journey and not just watching and that the world within the film is a completely real one, with real people who are just passing by.

The tone of the film is light but with serious notes and there are some real laugh out loud moments. It is not in anyway a comedy film but the laughter stems from real life situations that we can all relate to and therein lies the beauty of it. By making you relate to the normality of everything it forces you to feel alongside the characters and culminates in one of the greatest father/son moments certainly I have ever seen. I loved this film and it is probably the sweetest, most heartfelt thing I have seen in a long time. Please do not be put off by the pace of it or the black and white colour palette, it is well worth your while.

Verdict: A big fat 5/5