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About Schmidt: Alexander Payne's bittersweet comedy born from his strong love for his hometown
2024.04.12
Index
Payne's portrait of the character
Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Warren Schmidt, who retired from an insurance company after many years at the age of 66, had nothing but ordinary days of boredom waiting for him. One day, his wife Helen, whom he had been married to for many years, suddenly dies. So, dragging the memory of Helen with him, Schmidt drives his newly purchased camper to Denver, Colorado to help with his daughter Jeannie's wedding.
Warren Schmidt, the protagonist of About Schmidt (2002), is unable to realize that there is a gap between the person he thinks he is and the way others see him. He thought he was fairly well respected at work, but after he retires he visits his young successor and offers to help, only to be politely turned down; he is enraged when he learns that the life of Helen, whom he trusted, was unknown; and he is tormented by loneliness when he discovers that he is farther away from his daughter, Jeanie, than he had imagined. He thought he would have been a better husband and father, but the thin skin he had been wearing falls away as soon as he retired. However, this is where Schmidt's rebirth in life begins.
"About Schmidt" trailer
Alexander Payne is a creator of bitter and well-made comedies, depicting people who are trying to somehow rebuild their unsettled lives with a lot of irony, while at the same time gently embracing them. In his latest work, The Holdovers (23), he depicts the process in which a sarcastic teacher who will spend Christmas vacation at a boarding school, a student who has to stay behind due to his mother's circumstances, and a female head chef with a wounded heart form a faint bond. This theme has not changed since his debut.
In his second film, "High School 90210: Watch Out for the Honor Student Gal!" (1999), he portrayed the struggles of a bad teacher who tries to prevent a top student from winning the student council president election, and in " Sideways " (2004), he created a poignant character, an aspiring high school teacher who goes on a winery tour with a playboy friend while still dealing with the shock of his divorce. In " The Descendants " (2007), he played a lawyer in a complicated position as a descendant of white settlers living in Honolulu, Hawaii, who was unable to get angry when he found out that his wife, who had become unconscious after a boating accident, was thinking of getting a divorce. In " Nebraska " (2013), he portrayed a road movie about a father with dementia and his son traveling from Montana to Nebraska to collect a suspicious bounty.
When viewed in this way, it becomes clear that there are similarities between the characters Payne has portrayed and the lives, pathos, and subtle humor that can be glimpsed through them.
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