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‘Omaha’ Review: Intimate Road Trip Drama About a Father in Crisis Exudes Visual Lyricism and Emotional Honesty
John Magaro stars in a tenderly devastating debut feature alongside two child actors who astound with the spontaneity of their heartfelt performances.
Equal parts heart-wrenching and luminous, “Omaha” shimmers with a startling truthfulness about two parallel points of view: a father who skips meals to ensure his children smile for whatever time they have together, and that of a young girl who can’t help but worry about her parent’s visible distress and what’s to come for her and her brother. Intimate in its scope, yet emotionally monumental, this debut feature by director Cole Webley, working from a screenplay by filmmaker Robert Machoian — whose “The Killing of Two Lovers” observes another father from middle America in crisis — resonates for how spontaneously the interactions seem to unfold, as if sparked by reality in front of the camera. A shot of fireworks as the family’s beater drives by, the immensity of the sky when Charlie and Ella fly a kite while dad ponders his decisions, and even an instance of the boy dancing carefree against the backdrop of an arid road brim with bittersweet wonder.
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