Review of Nebraska (2013) by Ryan B — 30 Aug 2014
Oddly enough, I seemed to prefer watching this the second time round. Let me explain... The first time round, I was interested in Alexander Payne's choice to shoot the film in black-and-white. I can only recall one other 2013 film that took up this technique - Ben Wheatley's A Field in England - and I can confidently say that both directors deployed it beautifully.
However, I couldn't really pay attention to it for long enough, despite it's striking visuals, great score and eccentric family-centred humour. I decided that I would have to watch it a second time, which was of course the right choice: watching it the second time, I realised that the film was meant to be appreciated for its compositional style.
The composition makes the film what cinematographer Phedon Papamichael called "poetic". It's far from 2013's best picture (either Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave or Spike Jonze's Her), but it's probably still worth watching.
This review of Nebraska (2013) was written by Ryan B on 30 Aug 2014.
Nebraska has generally received very positive reviews.
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