Nomadland - Review Thread

I don't disagree with that, in theory, but I didn't really engage with the character or find it overly engrossing to actually watch.  Almost felt more like a short film extended to feature length.  

Cinema has always wielded a unique power in its art form in being able to offer glimpses into various people and cultures around the world, providing voices and exposure to the marginalized and presenting the public with societal issues they very likely had no idea existed. Filmmaking has an ability to transport the viewer into places that might make them feel uncomfortable, guilty, fascinated, and galvanized all the same based on what they're presented. America is often dominated by a cable news media output of information, most of which is catered around politicians and celebrities and very rarely sets its sights on depicting the actual plights and issues of the country. Yes, they'll talk about the economic collapses, and the factory closures, but that's really about where it stops and the actual people who make up the laid-off workforces of corporate America are little more than a number in a statistic. We've heard a lot about the "forgotten" white voters of middle America during the rise of Donald Trump, and while I generally find mainstream media's narrative of this to be flawed at best, there are a large swath of white Americans living in extreme poverty due to the very factory closures and phasing out of their job entirely (whether by a move towards autonomy or relinquishing an industry like coal altogether) that deserves a lot more attention than it's generally garnered. Director Chloe Zhao has tapped into these voiceless citizens in previous works, her last being The Rider which focused on a young man in South Dakota who sees his only form of escape in rodeo. She's carved out an aesthetic thus far of showcasing the beautiful tableaus of middle America behind its downtrodden citizens who are often marching towards an ugly factory or processing plant to scrape by that's never preachy but always profound. A lot of this is due to her semi-documentary style that makes it feel like we're flies on the wall that are following around these people that we often forget exist, and while at times that style can feel artificial it never feels disingenuous. Zhao has ramped that up considerably in her latest film, Nomadland, which was a critical darling of 2020 and will certainly be on the short list for best of the year come awards time. Nomadland is a step up from The Rider, which I was a definite fan of, blending more of the drifting between scripted narrative and documentary about the lives of people who live on the road and on the move trying to carve out a life in a country that's not overly concerned with them. This delicate dance doesn't always work, but Nomadland is a fascinating film that is a truly American cinematic experience worth taking.

Nomadland is sort of the umbrella term for the kind of America that the characters/people who live in vans traveling around the country doing odd jobs to get by identify with. They follow a sort of migrational season pattern of fleeing the cold weather but mostly chasing after part-time jobs to get food, gas, and occasionally indulge in low-cost fun like tours of roadside attractions most of us wouldn't stop for. It should be stated before I get to the plot of Nomadland that this is indeed a fictional film, but Zhao employs several non-acting "nomads" in the movie that generally regale the audience and Fern (Frances McDormand) with their personal stories and tragedies that is entirely absorbing, heartbreaking, and uplifting. Mixing actors with non-actors has been done since the birth of cinema with varying degrees of success, but what makes it work so well in Nomadland is that these people aren't playing parts but are going about their days and aren't getting themselves wrapped up in any form of plot that would break the authenticity. You definitely get the sense that these are good people who enjoy their lives on the road, but it's also hard watching them make a living by scrubbing filthy tourist toilets or working as short-order cooks in the thankless jobs that pit them as being the bottom rung of our class system. Each one of them have different stories, but there are many connective tissues all the same. Most of this centers around personal losses that have made it impossible for these people to acclimate back into society, and the freedom that living on the road grants them also comes with an escape from these demons that haunt them. Nomadland offers a stirring look at these forgotten people and is at its best when it functions as a documentary.

The actual narrative of the film is on Frances McDormand's character, Fern. We learn that Fern has lost her husband and her factory job in Empire, Nevada, which has become a literal ghost town as we're told it even lost its own zip code in the aftermath of the factory's exodus (something I didn't even know was possible). Fern, like the real-life "nomads" on the road, drifts from one seasonal job to another while rejecting offers from others to settle down and move in with them. She too is running from her past, and while noticeably a warm and charismatic person, is also unable to accept new loves in her life or any sort of change that isn't a temporary one. McDormand is excellent as Fern, seamlessly blending into this real world she's infiltrating and is one of those phenomenal actors who're able to convey a thousand thoughts with a single look. While we do get some narrative boosts around Fern, such as a brief stay at her sister's middle-class home and a flirting romance with Dave (David Strathairn) that never takes off, most of the film focuses on her interactions with others in various RV parks and letting them tell their stories. This dance between realism and narrative doesn't always work, but it's undeniably effective. I found myself entirely absorbed in the stories of the actual people, only to find that enchantment broken when the film would cut to the next scene of Fern driving the American highways in long shot against a soaring piano score. These moments don't offset the powerful storytelling that Zhao is achieving here, but the experiment isn't always a successful one even if it's always an admirable one. Nomadland isn't going to be for everyone, and I don't think it'll be the big winner for awards because of that, but it's a fascinating examination of people whose stories often go unnoticed as well as a remarkable blend of fiction and documentary that has rarely been pulled off better.

8/10

Liked it didn't love it. Frances is great but I found the entire story kind of manipulating at times. Perhaps this would have hit me harder if it was still 2011 (was it believable that these van folk would almost all, at least fern and Linda marie, have smart phones they could watch video on? Living the lives that they do, they would decide they needed a phone with video capabilities in 2011 - knee deep in the darkest depression in america, with a population of marginalized and downtrodden folks who all to a t decide that capitalism isn't their favored form of govt?) And not 2021. Am very interested to see zhao make more mainstream fare.


6.5/10