Northbound

Arthur is every nursing home’s worst nightmare. The old man simply refuses to shed his rebellious, youthful spirit, repeatedly disrupting the facility’s routine with alcohol, drugs, nude sunbathing, or illegal cockfights. Getting kicked out was only a matter of time. Now Kevin has to pick up his unruly grandfather—only to find himself, unexpectedly, on a road trip to Canada. With a passenger like that, the journey quickly turns into a rollercoaster ride for Kevin; Arthur not only confronts his overly well-behaved grandson with his past transgressions but also tries to convince him to carry on the family tradition of whiskey distilling. In Bruce Dern, director William Scoular has found the ideal lead actor to embody this incorrigible old rascal: roguish, sentimental, and always full of surprises. Balancing situational comedy with surprisingly melodramatic twists, »Northbound« is a wonderfully charming intergenerational journey—fueled by Dern’s irresistible wisdom of age and a story that understands that a road trip is never really about the destination.