Watching screeners and attending Oscars & SAG awards Q & A sessions the past 2 months have had me unwittingly curate some very strange double features for my viewing pleasure. After watching Gravity & then jumping into Nebraska one night, it seemed like the running theme that week somehow ended up being about parents & the way we live our lives -either because of them, despite them, or as them.
I went from the grand scope of Gravity, where the intimacy & immediacy of death is played out by Sandra Bullock’s character in the vastness of the universe, to the much smaller canvas of a father/son road trip crossing state lines while exploring mental & emotional states.
While seemingly so different, both films shared the exploration of purpose & being. They both look at the questions of existence & use of life, forcing the viewer to ponder who we are & why our lives make a difference? Gravity asks why continue to fight for your life when you feel alone -when your reason to exist as parent is gone – why continue to age? Nebraska seems to ask not just how we age in society but how do our roles as children allow our parents to age? At an age when many people struggle with mid-life crisis issues & ideas of identity & self-acceptance, are we good caregivers of others? Are we good at helping others to age with dignity?
I couldn’t help but love the comparison between these two films & I’m glad I did them back to back. The incredible sound & special effects work of Gravity- where perception constantly shifts from the exterior to the interior, the limitlessness of space to the hyper close area within a space helmet & the reflection captured on the surface of an eye contrasts the endless vistas of the simple road trip and Americana of the American experience in Nebraska while both films tackle the limits & expanse of the mind & heart.
profvalfranco 