Thursday, June 26, 2014
Settling
The relationship between sons and aging dads is a timeless tale of trying to settle the deal.
In today's movie, an old man gets one of those "you have won" promotion letters. If you buy some magazines, then you get into a lottery where everyone wins. They already got the magazines for a low price. Winning.
In this case, the old man takes it literally and decides that he wants to go to Nebraska, the home of the promotion company, to get his million dollar prize. He doesn't read the fine print. One gathers actually that he does not want to.
His son starts by humoring him and before long has joined up. They are both going to
This is a movie in the old sentimental style but it has some sharp edges too. Bruce Dern is the old man and his son Bruce Forte. A wonderful turn by June Squibb as the long suffering wife and mother.
This is a composed film. Carefully written and flawlessly filmed in black and white. The traps of sentimentality and city slicker superiority are avoided, transcended, actually.
It is a New York Times Critic's Pick. The city slickers liked it very much. The film pierces all the sophisticated armor a lot of us bring to a new film.
Conversely, one sits with this story and its people and becomes a part of.
This is a wonderful movie and will get a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
