Paramount has released the first trailer for Alexander Payne‘s Nebraska starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte, which was just moved up a week earlier to a limited release on November 15.
The story follows an aging alcoholic father (Dern) who thinks he’s won a million dollar Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes prize. He is unbowed when his family tries to dissuade him from making the long trip from Montana to Nebraska to cash in his winnings. So his estranged 20-something son (Forte) — who doesn’t believe the ticket is a winner — is forced to go along with him for the ride to keep him out of trouble, providing an opportunity to bond with his father after years of separation.
I caught the film in Cannes earlier this year and while I liked bits and pieces of it, it didn’t win me over. Here’s a snippet from the opening of my review:
Set in the wide expanses of middle America, Alexander Payne’s Nebraska still manages to feel small and claustrophobic a lot of the time. While in some ways the film is charming and gentle, it’s largely acidic and sour. The motivations at the heart of the film are love, but the weathered and worn souls that inhabit Payne’s windswept, black-and-white landscape, conjuring memories of Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show, are either too tired or too afraid to admit they even care any longer. The weight of this burden is not only seen on the characters’ faces but felt by the audience throughout.
You can read the full review right here and check out the trailer directly below.
