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| A photograph of Frances McDormand in character as Fern in a deck chair drying her underwear on the plains before the mountains make up this truly delightful poster for Chloé Zhao's Nomadland |
Fern has become a van-dwelling, "houseless" modern nomad in the wake of her husband's demise and her abandonment of the Nevadan town that they lived in. On her nomadic trails through the US she goes through travails and finds new communities.
Nomadland is written, co-produced, directed and edited by great Chinese-born American filmmaker Chloé Zhao (Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015)), adapting the non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century (2017) by Jessica Bruder.
It is an assured and sensitive, insightful portrayal of a way of life that is foreign to most of us, which raises questions about our own choice of life as it pertains to our homes, economy, loans and debts.
Frances McDormand (Something's Gotta Give (2003)) adds another marvelous character to her luminous career and is perfect as Fern, a woman who is both tough and a survivor but also a sensitive and struggling person on her own most of the time. McDormand also co-produced the film. David Strathairn (Fracture (2007)) is the only other recognized actor in the film, which is otherwise full of mostly modern nomads playing modern nomads, several of them very moving and warm encounters. Charlene Swankie's portrayal of Swankie is especially moving.
The moving human stories that the film is rife with, which mostly rests on things that define characters, which have already taken place, are balanced against the long periods of alone-time that is life for Fern, as well as tremendous amounts of nature, as she and the other nomads have a stronger connection with nature than most regular urban-dwellers today do. This introspective appreciation of the land and the nature that makes up America is fantastic and makes up some of the best parts of Nomadland. Poetry is incorporated naturally in the narrative, and one can easily argue that this film is poetic in itself.
Joshua James Richards' (The Rider (2017)) elegant, unostentatious photography is commendable. There's inherent critique of the housing market and the 'race for the dollar' way of life, but also appreciation of the never stagnant and ever restless America, which the nomads are a part of. There's great amounts of beauty to see and encounter in Nomadland, which makes it a sorely dear experience to be had, especially on a big screen.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 21.4 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit (returned 4.28 times its cost)
[Nomadland premiered 11 September (3 different film festivals) and runs 108 minutes. Shooting took place in South Dakota, Nevada, California, Arizona and Nebraska in the latter part of 2018 with Zhao, McDormand and crew members reportedly living out of vans during the course of the production. The film's release was ruined considerably by the China Virus pandemic. The film opened #7 to a 503k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked the following weekend at #6 and grossed 2.1 mil. $ (9.8 % of the total gross). North America was only the film's 5th biggest market. Its 3 biggest were Japan with 3.6 mil. $ (16.8 %), Australia with 3.5 mil. $ (16.4 %) and the UK with 2.6 mil. $ (12.1 %). The film has one market left to open in: Germany on 1 July. It was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning 3: For Best Picture, Director and Actress. It lost Adapted Screenplay to Christopher Hampton for The Father, Cinematography to Erik Messerschmidt for Mank and Editing to Sound of Metal. It also won 4/7 BAFTA nominations, an AFI award, 4/5 Independent Spirit award nominations, 2/4 Golden Globe nominations, 2 National Board of Review awards, 3 awards at the Venice Film Festival and countless other honors. Due to China-critical comments she made in 2013, Zhao's sensational Oscar win was censored from the citizens of China, where the film's release was also canceled. Zhao returns with Eternals (2021). McDormand returns in The French Dispatch (2021). Nomadland is certified fresh at 94 % with a 8.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Nomadland?
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