Nomadland
Ratings: 4.7/5
Duration: 1hr 48 mins
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Director: Chloé Zhao
Writer: Jessica Bruder, Chloé Zhao
Based On: Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
Producer: Mollye Asher, Jessica Bruder, Emily Jade Foley, Dan Janvey, Geoff Linville, Frances McDormand, Taylor Shung, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao
Music: Ludovico Einaudi
Cinematography: Joshua James Richards
Editing: Chloé Zhao
Art Direction: Elizabeth Godar
Release Date: 4 December 2020
Releasing In: Theatres
Star Cast: Frances McDormand, Gay DeForest, Patricia Grier, Linda May, Angela Reyes, Carl R. Hughes, Douglas G. Soul, Ryan Aquino, Teresa Buchanan, Karie Lynn McDermott Wilder, Brandy Wilber , Makenzie Etcheverry, Bob Wells, Annette Webb, Rachel Bannon, Charlene Swankie, David Strathairn, Bryce Bedsworth, Sherita Deni Coker, Merle Redwing, Forrest Bault, Suanne Carlson
Plot: Nomadland follows Fern (Frances McDormand), a woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
Review: Frances McDormand as Fern lives and breathes as a Nomad in Nomadland, which won the Golden Lion at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. McDormand absolutely phenomenal as Fern and Chloé Zhao, the writer and director, are a perfect team.
McDormand initiated the project and produced the film, a fictionalised version of Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century. Bruder documented people who, by choice or economic necessity, began living a nomadic after the 2008 financial collapse.
The film tracks Fern, a widow whose mining town in Nevada collapsed financially. As she travels from snowy plains to the desert, she meets other nomads, mostly non-actors. The film’s treatment is unique: it is a mix of documentary and fiction.
The tone is set early: Fern’s van is the only vehicle on a road surrounded by vast, empty space with mountains in the distance. In one shot, we see her loneliness and isolation. She packs Amazon boxes at Christmas, living alongside other workers in an RV park. The jobs she finds as she moves include working in a restaurant kitchen in South Dakota and acting as a host at a campground, cleaning filthy bathrooms in the Badlands National Park.
“I’m not homeless. I’m just houseless. Not the same thing,” Fern tells a teen she once tutored when the young woman recognizes her in a sporting goods store. Being a nomad seems exhausting at times; with the freedom comes the frustration and absolute no guarantee of anything.
This film delivers raw and exceptional performances and a stark social commentary on the economic realism that is relevant to this day.
Milestones:
- It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
- It also won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
