Father-son relationships are a grateful source of inspiration for films and there have been many made. 2014 will see a highly anticipated alternative to the theme with ‘Nebraska’, starring the brilliant Bruce Dern and nominated for six Oscars. The film tells the story of the elderly Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) who thinks he has won the lottery after receiving a letter by a fake lottery. The prize of 1 million dollar is to be collected in Lincoln, Nebraska – over 1000 kilometers away from home. He is determined to cash in, even if that means he has to walk the distance. He is joined by is son David (Will Forte) who feels compelled to join. On the road, they touch the hearts of the people they meet. ‘Nebraska’ is in Dutch cinemas as of 27^th February.

We can give away 2×2 cinema tickets and 2 of these ‘Nebraska Prize Winner’ caps. Drop us an e-mail at info@blend.nl.

Let’s have a look at some iconic father-son films to get into the spirit of ‘Nebraska’.

‘Beginners’ (2010)

This film features a very modern and honest father-son relationship. After his wife’s death, Hal (Christopher Plummer) comes out as gay to his son Oliver (Ewan McGregor), and falls in love with a younger man. Through his newfound honesty with himself and others about his identity, Hal becomes closer to his son. It is this honesty that inspires Oliver to take a chance in his own love life and pursue a French actress (Mélanie Laurent) that he had just met. Oliver comes to terms with his father’s sexuality and realizes that the truth is always best, even if it’s riskier. Hal’s legacy to Oliver ends up being his ability to be honest with himself and others about who he loved and how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. It’s stylish, funny, and touching stuff, and quite rightly, Plummer won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the role of Hal, making him the oldest person ever to win an Oscar for acting.

‘Big Fish’ (2003)

‘Big Fish’ is about a son trying to decipher the truth from his father’s tall tales, and about what will be passed down from father to son to grandson. The film begins with Will Bloom (Billy Crudup) sitting beside his father’s hospital bed. His father (Albert Finney) is a real Southern charmer and as such has many great stories and tall tales up his sleeves. When his daughter-in-law (Marion Cotillard) says she would like a picture of him, he responds, “Oh, you don’t need a picture. Just look up ‘handsome’ in the dictionary.” When he tells his stories, a dying Finney restricted to his hospital bed transforms into a lively Ewan McGregor, with his adventures including a one-eyed witch (Helena Bonham Carter), a town without shoes, a giant named Karl, a pair of conjoined twins in Vietnam, the time-stopping love of his life (Alison Lohman/Jessica Lange), and the uncatchable fish he caught and released, all to the chagrin of his son jaded by the countless number of times he has heard these yarns over the years. Ultimately, the son comes to terms with his father, learning that the exact pedantic truth of Edward’s tall tales are less important than the stories themselves, and the way the man told them.

‘The place Beyond the Pines’ (2012)

The film is about a motorcycle stunt rider (Ryan Gosling) who turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover and their newborn child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop (Bradley Cooper) navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective. The first part of the film focuses on the stunt rider’s journey, while the second part shows the cop’s testings. The most significant part of the film is the third and final part in which the sons of both men unknowingly meet and it all culminates in an opposite analogy between fathers and their sons.