My closest friend in high school used to say that he wanted to die at 50. He was convinced that after that, life was simply not worth living anymore. Who would want to be old? was his argument. Now at the time we were teenagers, so despite our deepening voices suggesting otherwise, neither of us really had a f--king clue as to what we were talking about. But, in a way, it made sense.
Just like every single other aspect of life, once you have kids, things change. You have to be there for them. Period. You quickly realize that there are many things worse than being old. How about being miserable your whole life? Or broke? Or, shit.
How about being all three?
In Alexander Payne's Oscar-nominated film Nebraska, main character Woody Grant personifies the unholy trinity mentioned above. He's legitimately old (he's in his eighties), he's fairly miserable (his wife basically hates him), and he's got no money. Oh, and he's also a drunk who never really gave a shit about his kids. But in a final act of desperation, ol' Woodrow might be able to redeem a life full of disappointment and drunken indifference. Woody, it seems, has a golden ticket.
Less chocolate factory, more Publisher's Clearing House, Woody believes he has received a letter stating that he has won a million dollars. Instead of mailing it in ("I'm not trusting the mail with a million dollars"), his plan is to shuffle himself eight-hundred plus miles from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska. Even knowing his father hasn't really won anything, Woody's son David reluctantly decides to drive him. At the very least, David thinks, he'll get to spend some time with his Dad.
While the movie tends to move at a pace similar to an old mad dragging himself down the shoulder of an interstate, Nebraska never bored me. Woody appears to be a uniformly bad person, but through the eyes of his ever-loyal son, a different truth is slowly revealed. Sure, Woody's not much of a hero, but seldom of us are. We just try to do the best with what we have. And the way I see it, Woody didn't really have much to begin with.
Just like every single other aspect of life, once you have kids, things change. You have to be there for them. Period. You quickly realize that there are many things worse than being old. How about being miserable your whole life? Or broke? Or, shit.
How about being all three?
Less chocolate factory, more Publisher's Clearing House, Woody believes he has received a letter stating that he has won a million dollars. Instead of mailing it in ("I'm not trusting the mail with a million dollars"), his plan is to shuffle himself eight-hundred plus miles from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska. Even knowing his father hasn't really won anything, Woody's son David reluctantly decides to drive him. At the very least, David thinks, he'll get to spend some time with his Dad.
While the movie tends to move at a pace similar to an old mad dragging himself down the shoulder of an interstate, Nebraska never bored me. Woody appears to be a uniformly bad person, but through the eyes of his ever-loyal son, a different truth is slowly revealed. Sure, Woody's not much of a hero, but seldom of us are. We just try to do the best with what we have. And the way I see it, Woody didn't really have much to begin with.
