NOMADLAND | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Chloe Zhao (12A, 108 mins)
Frances McDormand excels in this immersive drama, based on Jessica Bruder’s book, as a woman embracing the van-dwelling life of a nomad in the economically deprived American west. Directed by Chloe Zhao, who is very much connected to the grand vistas of the plains of America following the excellent The Rider, this deals with displacement, grief and living in the moment with low-key quasi-documentary brilliance.
McDormand plays Fern, a widow and former substitute teacher from Empire, a town in Nevada devastated by the 2008 crash. She’s been forced to give up her home and pack what possessions she has into a camper van. On the road, she finds and embraces a travelling nomadic community – most prominently Bob Wells, a radical anti-capitalist who has shown to many that there is another way less consumerist way of life. McDormand is our guide through the world of these displaced baby boomers, the dispossessed middle classes forced to rethink their lives in the wake of financial instability.
She takes jobs: in the soulless Amazon factory that has replaced industry in Nevada, and a tourist location in the badlands of North Dakota. She makes new friends, some struggling with their own illnesses, and has a wonderfully bittersweet flirtation with another fictional character (Nomadland the book was an account of actual people and events) – Dave, played by David Strathairn. Fern has family who care about her, though: her sister wants her around more, and she is left trying to decide whether to rejoin conventional society or stay on the road.
Often very moving, particularly in regard to the genuine story of Bob Wells himself, Nomadland is a real snapshot of a way of life in a compromised America, that says so much with its quiet stillness. McDormand is excellent as the restrained, uncomplaining Fern and Zhao’s direction paints a rich, detailed picture of these new American pioneers.
Released Fri 19 Mar
words KEIRON SELF