A father who remains nameless (John Magaro) wakes up his 6-year-old son Charlie (Wyatt Solis) in the early morning, tells him to pack the bare minimum and get ready to go. 9-year-old daughter Ella (Molly Bell Wright) and the family dog are already in the car. The beginning of a wonderful family vacation this is not, mind you. With the eviction notice nailed firmly on their front door you can safely assume something’s amiss and as their journey continues it becomes clear that this family is very much down on its luck, indeed.
Still, you’d almost forget it as Omaha sort of lulls you into thinking this is a tender road movie with beautiful landscapes, atmospheric music and a pretty laid-back tempo. They are clearly a loving bunch and it’s endearing to watch them interact during this trip. Nevertheless, something’s clearly up with dad. And Ella has caught on. Not much is explained, though. Rather you organically deduct the context by observing subtle details in the characters’ facial expressions and body language. It gets a bit more concrete towards the second half and especially at the very end but still you’ve done most of the figuring out yourself by then.
It often reminded me of Aftersun (2022) in that sense. Another film that gently breezes by while quietly infusing this unnerving sensation. It festers under the surface and hits you hard albeit almost without you noticing it and then it sticks with you many days after the credits have rolled. Both movies excel in nailing tone and level of realism necessary to sell all of that but of course the experience is also greatly amplified by phenomenally natural performances.
In the case of Omaha this is all the more impressive for the siblings in particular considering their your age. During the Q&A director Cole Webley stressed how privileged he felt having been able to work with such talent on his first feature length. And it’s evident why.
Omaha is an impressive and powerful debut. Incredibly sweet. And devastatingly sad. Bravo to everyone involved.
