Nebraska

Dir. Alexander Payne. 2013, 115 mins. DCP. With Bruce Dern, June Squibb, Will Forte. Payne’s black-and-white, jewel-like family drama bears traces of the writer-director’s more acerbic earlier films, but pushes his filmography into more introspective, humble territory. Bruce Dern received a much-deserved Oscar nomination for his splendid performance as Woodrow T. Grant, who’s beginning to show signs of dementia and who takes a road trip with his resentful son, Dave (Forte), from Montana to Nebraska. The trip seems like a fool’s errand: Woodrow is convinced he has won a million-dollar prize in a magazine sweepstakes, and he wants to collect. Yet during their odyssey, the two men excavate the past and try to move forward, leaving their resentments behind. A film about regret, loss, and mortality that is also often quite funny and endlessly observant about American male ritual and behavior, Nebraska is perhaps Payne’s tenderest film. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.