The 2014 Academy voters appear to be fans of the incredibly flawed fathers of “American Hustle” and “Nebraska”
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2013 was not a great year for fathers in the movies. There was a lot for dads to enjoy at your local multiplex—there were so many amazing films last year—but, in terms of how dads were portrayed, there weren’t many shining examples of superior fatherhood gracing the silver screen. Look at the cinematic dads we got in 2013: the lamest John McClane outing yet, Nic Cage as a cartoon cave-dad, Will Smith as the worst space dad ever in After Earth, an American bastardization of Oldboy (which has so much daddy-ickiness in it that I won’t spoil here), and the dads of Grown-Ups 2… that’s right, Grown-Ups FRIGGIN’ 2. The most sympathetic portrayal of fatherhood in 2013 might’ve been Gru in Despicable Me 2 and, yes, that should make you a little sad. With all this in mind, it was no surprise that, when the Oscar nominations were announced last week, the male actor categories didn’t have that many paternal roles to celebrate.
If there weren’t any uber-lovable George Bailey-types or tear-jerking Kevin Costners, what dads did we get in the acting categories for the 2014 Oscars? Basically, there were two options. However, let me just say up front that I’m not regarding Chiwetel Ejiofor’s BRILLIANT performance in 12 Years a Slave as a “dad role”—even though Solomon Northup did have children—because the fact that he was a father didn’t play that big of a role in the film. Northup’s journey was about reclaiming his own humanity and the impossibly evil dehumanization that accompanies slavery, not about his identity as a father figure. (I realize that’s a subjective call. Flame away if you disagree.)
So, as I mentioned before, that leaves two options: Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld in American Hustle and Bruce Dern as Woody Grant in Nebraska.
Now, I realize that Bale’s character only has a few scenes with his son in American Hustle, but Irving’s identity as a father plays a huge role in the movie. Irving is a consummate con-man, the kind who always knows how to keep his cons small and off-the-radar, but the fact that he once fell in love with Jennifer Lawrence’s Rosalyn and, more importantly, Rosalyn’s son traps Irving in ways he never anticipated. Even though it’s the smart play, Bale never cuts and runs off into the sunset with Amy Adams. He has to stay and navigate through the murkiest deals of his life, specifically because he refuses to abandon his adopted son. Irving Rosenfeld is not a nice man, but he takes his identity as a father very, very seriously.
Alternately, Alexander Payne’s Nebraska is ENTIRELY about a father-son relationship, albeit a much different kind. It is widely alluded to in the film that Bruce Dern’s Woody Grant was not a good father. He’s an aging alcoholic, sliding towards dementia, who’s convinced that he won a million dollars in a mail-in sweepstakes and won’t stop obsessing about it until his son (Will Forte) takes him to Nebraska to claim his prize. Woody’s relationship with his son is conveyed almost entirely through long, awkward silences and quietly affecting mundane moments—like when Woody and son stumble around train tracks at night, looking for Woody’s lost dentures. Woody makes no grand declarations of love or devotion in Nebraska, but there are small, intimate moments where, even though we don’t see a lot of paternal love radiating from Woody, we do see him trying to be understood and trying to communicate with his son, which, for him, is a fairly big deal.
If you had to choose, Oscar fans, which dad would you want? The devoted, flawed criminal or the aloof, emotionally stunted alcoholic? And, if you wouldn’t want to pick either one to hang out with on Father’s Day, who do you think gave the best performance? Christian Bale or Bruce Dern? Is Dern due? Or does Bale deserve it for the wig alone?
And were there other cinematic dads that should’ve been nominated for Oscars this year? If so, let us know in the comments section below.