A well-directed film, with beautiful cinematography and great performances, but with a disjointed plot, that felt trivial and unaffecting.
This movie reminded me of something Roger Ebert had said ages ago about another movie (My Own Private Idaho) because it describes it perfectly even if the two movies are not exactly alike but have a similar vibe. Ebert said: "The achievement of this film is that it wants to evoke that state of drifting need, and it does. There is no mechanical plot that has to grind to a Hollywood conclusion, and no contrived test for the heroes to pass."
I don't think you could put it any better than that.
Finally got around to watching this gem! It’s such a beautiful depiction of this community of people, and you can tell that it’s made with so much care and empathy for the stories they had to tell. It’s less of a plot film and more a collection of slices of life which, put together, paint a beautiful picture that transcends the screen for an immersive and emotional viewing experience.
Frances Mcdormand's performance , the real-life nomads included , the beautiful cinematography and direction by Chloe Zhao make this movie shine
I didn’t get the hype and I really wanted to like it but I just didn’t. Felt like I wasted 2 hours of my life that I won’t get back. There’s a little story to a couple of characters but that’s it. They don’t delve any further so couldn’t get attached even if I wanted to. Wouldn’t recommend
[9.4/10] Nomadland is an unassuming period piece, taking place roughly a decade before it was released. You wouldn’t know that beyond a few stray mentions of dates and times and the presence of a couple old cell phones that could be written off as the tech available to the film’s titular nomads. The movie centers on those travelers, getting by in desert campouts and parking lot largesse and the wide spots in the countryside. The places they inhabit feel simultaneously weathered and timeless enough to resist being dated.
And yet, it’s hard to imagine a film more salient to our times. Palpable in the very premise of the film is the sense of things left behind by a society with not enough care for the least of us. The precious possession, animals, and even people cast aside because there’s no one there to care for them permeate the film’s consciousness. It is, in its way, a blistering indictment of the community that would prompt its denizens to resort to such desperate, if resourceful, measures for want of other choices.
But it’s also a movie about loss, about the way that our connections to the people closest to us create roots deeper than any particular place, even places with warm beds and hot food. When those roots are torn up by illness or death or a changing economic landscape, it may be hard, if not impossible, to put them down ever again. Coupled with the practical reasons for adopting this lifestyle, Nomadland delves into the psychology of it, the sense of deep bonds severed that lead to a rootlessness even in those blessed with the options to settle down someplace.
The embodiment of this situation is Fern, a widow from a mining town in Nevada that withered on the vine when no one needed sheetrock anymore. The film follows her travelogue over the course of a year and beyond, rambling the countryside to wherever there’s work or community enough to sustain her. We see the world through the window of the van that doubles as both her transportation and her shelter, as she makes friends, muddles through as best she can, and scrapes by on a combination of hard work and the kindness of strangers.
Writer/director/editor Chloé Zhao lends this journey the air of naturalism it deserves. There are no big speeches here, little in the way of plot or firm structure. Instead, the movie laudably takes on the spirit of its protagonist, salt-of-the-earth wandering mixed with the buoying and complicated tangles of human interactions brought to the foreground. It’s a film that ambles, and sometimes stutters, but always in tune with the atmosphere Zhao aims to create and the internal feelings that Fern conveys.
It seems bold to say for an actor as deservedly decorated and venerable as Frances McDormand, but Fern may be her magnum opus. Fern is not a character who tells people what she really thinks or feels, almost to a fault. But in the tiniest expressions on McDormand’s face, the shifts in body language or sense of palpable discomfort when something seems too close or just close enough, she communicates those sensations and sentiments to the audience clear as a bell.
That thoroughly lived-in performance matches beautifully with Nomadland’s stunning cinematography. Director of Photography Joshua James Richards shoots astounding vistas from across the American landscape, finding beauty in desolate old towns, desert flora and fauna, and faces lit by fires crackling from the ground and stars shining from the night sky. The sense of loneliness mixed with human connection, of tininess within a vast natural world, comes through in the wonderful collection of images Zhao and Richards present.
It matches with the deliberateness of Zhao’s approach here, buoyed by soothing but melancholy piano-based score that adds feeling to the movie’s empty spaces. There’s something propulsive about Nomadland in its way, sinking into Fern’s endless search for the next odd job, the next temporary solution to her problem, the next friendly face who offers solace amid the ceaseless wandering. But Zhao also isn’t afraid to pause and show Fern simply being, to focus on the smaller moments of her life and experience that make the character and journey seem so real and viscerally felt.
Her plight comes through in the tough choices she makes in the first half of the film, and the fellow travelers she connects with grappling with the same. Through Fern, the viewer hears stories of sickness, grief, and other methods of falling through the safety net that prompt people to learn to live out of their vans in faraway places. No one ever articulates it, short of the nomads’ resident philosopher, but there’s the sense of these individuals having been victimized by a system that no longer has use for them, wanting to detach and start anew somewhere that they’re not bound by it.
It results in an inherent transience, but also deeper, liberating ties to the natural world in spare moments of grace and beauty. People flit in and out of Fern’s life -- Swankie, Linda May, Dave -- each leaving an impression on her but finding ways to move on as time and necessity progress. The joy and renewed loss of these fleeting but no less meaningful bonds animates the film, as we see small doses of stability and community infused into Fern’s life before they’re drained away by her road-bound existence.
And yet, even there, she has a certain peace away from the hustle and bustle of mainstream existence, one we learn she eschews by choice. That’s the striking turn in the second half -- learning that Fern is not wholly a nomad by necessity, with opportunities to settle down with new friends and old family. But her eccentricity, her courage, keeps her more comfortable drifting from place to place than putting down stakes again.
Ultimately, the film ties that to the loss of her husband and, eventually, the loss of the town where they made their home. It’s an irrevocable sort of grief, one that keeps Fern at a certain distance even from those who would welcome here, for fear that laying down roots again would be a betrayal to his memory, a wiping away of what he meant and the life they built together to try to replace in with anything half as sweet or stable. As time marches on, Fern seems to find some peace in this too, in the sense that all those lost souls will be met again a little on down the road, and it keeps her moving.
There is something irrepressibly timely about that tack. Nomadland does not shy away from the economic circumstances and uphill climb that leave so many straining to keep a foothold in the ever-shifting terrain of subsistence and prosperity. At the same time, it leans into a communal loneliness founded on loss, cut only by the warmth of the dribs and drabs of human connection that fade in and out of one’s life. It’s a message that is, like Fern herself, made for all seasons.
“We be the bitches of the badlands.”
‘Nomadland’ is one of those movies where nothing much happens, but it’s the type of movie you sit back and vibe with it.
This is a very attentive movie, where you journey along with this woman (played by Frances McDormand) who is fed up with her old life and decides to go off grid by traveling to different places while living in her van. She’s not homeless, just houseless. She is like a leaf that quietly and casually drifts from location to location. She encounters different people in this community, who are played by real nomads. Throughout the whole movie you are never in one place for too long, you just keep moving on.
I’ll give director Chloé Zhao and cinematographer Joshua James Richards major credit for they approach to a story like this. Zhao decision to include real nomads with their actual names in the movie as these characters made the story feel genuine and personal, which helps gives us a solid perspective on what life of a nomad is like but done in a respectful way that doesn’t intrude their lives. The cinematography from Joshua James Richards looks beautiful and does a great job showing off the Western landscape. Some locations can look so cold, and yet, other locations look so tranquil in the sunlight.
This movie is worth checking out just for Frances McDormand performance alone, as she is terrific in this movie. She plays Fern, an adventurous woman who is a child at heart, despite dealing with some personal issues from the inside that we are informed about briefly.
Also, I thought the real nomads were surprisingly good. I’m not sure if all the scenes with them are scripted or not, but either way I thought they were great.
While there’s a lot of things that I enjoyed and appreciated about this movie, but unfortunately it didn’t 100% connect with me on a emotional level. At first, I liked the whole open road freedom to the movie, because since the main character is never in one place, you too become a wanderer, but I also feel it misses the opportunity of a powerful character study, especially with a character like Fern when it’s clear that there’s more underneath the surface with her.
I found the pacing of the movie to be an issue for me, because with a two-hour runtime I would sometimes find myself losing interest in the characters and what was happening on screen, as the movie didn’t further develop or do anything with the content and ideas it presents.
While the music was appropriately used for certain scenes, but most of the time it felt really distracting and took me out of the scenes.
Overall rating: Again, there’s a lot of things that I appreciated about the movie and am interested in what Chloé Zhao has up her sleeves for Marvel’s ‘Eternals’, which I hope gives her the freedom to make whatever she wants in the late future, with the extra cash and name recognition.
I didn't get it.
It's neither poignant, enlifting, nor educational.
Think of it like an enforced and boring walkabout with someone you'd choose to avoid in real-life.
It's that bad - just don't...
After watching Nomadland I could see how some people would just stop watching after the first third and never go back to the film, likewise I could see how what is played out in front of you gets under your skin like a favourite song.
For me Nomadland is a poem made into a visual feast. Casting Frances McDormand was obviously a coup for director Chloe Zhao who likes to point the camera at real people, film, and then edit down until it is something palatable. McDormand is just the actorly glue that holds the film together and the perfect actor to play a natural role. No showboating, she just looks and behaves exactly like the ‘real’ nomads featuring in the running time. Most of those on the screen with exception of David Strathairn and France McDormand are exactly as they are in real life. Swankie is still alive and well, and she does what you see during the runtime in her own non-filmed life.
If the film has a noticeable fault it appears to show that this tough life on the road in the USA seems to have been somewhat romanticised because it does not take a huge stretch of imagination to realise that even on a good day this is a tough, tough life, with a social security system that does not care, a private health care system and open hostility to people without homes one can imagine every day is hard work. This is not shown to any extent in Nomadland.
For me the film is not there to show these points but more about the ornery, tough character of Fern who is resilient, tough, and self-reliant. She certainly is not painted as an angel of compassion and understanding but as we all can be be – many points between kind and mean. Life has thrown some awful brickbats at her, ending up with her being on the road and needing no one, it has battered a lot of love and feeling out of her to the point where she is incapable of real love, having close friends or even relaxing to a full extent. When her husband died, then Empire the town, she did too but carried on living.
The vistas are both beautiful and sparse and certainly seem to say that travelling up and down the USA in a minivan is not so bad. I’m not convinced. For me the people throughout the film are hanging on to their broken pasts and not wanting to move on up the road but instead just travel the road, almost an easy way out that ironically is not easy.
Fern visits her empty house and town at the conclusion in the most emotionally strong scenes in the movie as the desolated town and her old home sit empty and dusty perhaps a metaphor for her soul and life, perhaps the soul and life of the USA?
It is both sad and beautiful and if you do not fret so much about the story, the apparently ‘whitewashing’ of the hardships what you see is a beautifully made, mournful poem.
That’s the way I see Nomadland and if you know me from my presence on t’Internet then you know I like this type of approach.
I recommend Nomadland, you will either love it or hate it – but it will make you feel something.
Nothing happens in this movie, No plot, No drama, No character development, Nothing. This feels more like a documentary or journalism than an actual movie.
People stories. A person’s story told slowly. There is a beautiful melancholy in this production. The characters have authenticity. Francis MacDormand’s face alone deserves an Academy award. Every micro expression tells the story. Beautiful cinematography. A truly masterful movie. I give this film a 10 (minimalistic vastness) out of 10. [Drama]
I loved the movie. It's gritty, serious and realistic. I am glad people got to watch movies like this more this year instead of the big budget cartoonish crap superhero movies because of the pandemic.
It has its dull moments, but it's undoubtedly a beautifully shot and well-directed film. I liked that it documents a major social problem without getting overly sentimental or preachy. They just give you the facts and a few real stories, but it's up to us to draw your conclusions. Instead of pointing out how life sucks at all costs, Zhao prefers to show us many beautiful landscapes, good-hearted people, and even some delicious-looking food to bring them together. It's true that out of all nomads, they got the only ones with big tragedies or terminal illnesses, but after all, there's no movie without a little drama.
Unfortunately, Fern's motivations felt a little underdeveloped. We are made to believe that she travels as a choice rather than a necessity, but her character never gets fully explored. She does have a couple of deep conversations with her sister and the guru guy, but I was expecting something deeper. It was also a little weird to see big corporation logos in a film that is supposedly against capitalism.
I am not exactly sure what I just watched. I would under no circumstances consider this as a western, that's for sure. And drama... I dunno, doesn't that require a story? Or some character conflicts at least? Or did that genre becmoe the go-to label for everything that can't be categorised as anything else?
I have no idea what I just watched. There is no story here, the locations could be presented in any random order, and it wouldn't make any difference. There's no character portrayal either, really, we never really learn much (if anything) about anyone - consequently, there's no conflict, no drama, and no development either. There's no social commentary either, and it's also absolutely devoid of anything remotely political. A few shots here and there that I imagine look real nice in 4k HDR - but then if one wants pretty nature shots, they could just watch NatGeo or Discovery or some such. Some nice musical inserts - but then you can just go listen to any work of the featured composer anywhere, any time. It's like a hundred minute long portrait of some random generic people you most probably don't know and wouldn't care about anyway. And for the record: I don't mind movies in which nothing happens, but then show me something else instead. Nomadland doesn't.
How this movie ended up winning Best Actress, Direction, AND Picture - with all the other nominees in those categories - I'm sorry, but it does not compute. It's too much even if we chalk it up to the year having been long and slow due to the pandemic.
i like the movie. it is a beautiful film. i am touched by it. this is a story about grief, about being yourself, about moving on, and about the departed.
BUT, after i learned more about the book that the film adapted, my feeling is more conflicted. Zhao has definitely choose not to portray politics, or the negatives of capitalism, like in the book. idk, isn’t the film supposed to be an adapted work? however, i do agree that the angle that Zhao has chosen for her film feels like exactly what we need in 2020. it has a sense of escapism during this pandemic - we all know that there are capitalist problems, but sometimes, having a more positive angle towards the human behind the story can be soothing too.
Almost has a documentary feel
She is with any doubt an amazing actress but the movie is too slow for me, the story is depressing (I know a lot of people live like this) and it’s a little bit too long. Not for an Oscar!
Pretty nihilist film, its characteristics are the perfect represent of the US society in which people are incapable of creating lasting bonds with other people, or, more abstractly, of properly engaging with an idea of other people's identities. This radical individualism is apparent throughout the (too long) minutes, but is never problematised. Also, there is an unmistakable element of some kind of soft masochistic pleasure in solitary grieving/pain, which undoubtedly leads to romanticising the imaginary freedom of "chosing a lifestyle", rather than seriously delving into the conditions which made contemporary nomadism possible.
The atmosphere is too lulling for the viewer and distracts from the harsh realities and pure surviving (few windy and snowy scenes are simplistic cop-outs and really not enough) that these people have to go through, physically and mentally. I say this with no pleasure or self-entitled smugness - this film is a product from a liberal arsenal which numbs the people who think they're morally enlightened on the issues of the true nature of the lowest strata of American society. This film tries so hard to be an authentic portrayal, but ultimately it fails miserably on multiple levels.
Except for Frances McDormand's role, this film is completely forgettable and not worth watching, if you've already seen Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, then you have another reason less because you've seen how she performs these kind of roles.
Quite an interesting movie that felt almost like a documentary at times. But this might be due to the style of filming in some scenes. The movie is surely very slow moving but I could not say that I was bored. I especially liked the beautiful cinematography and the very toned down soundtrack of the film.
A series of many honest but not exaggerated moments. It's remarkable how sometimes some few sentences still manage to have such a great impact.
Great acting, and yet I don't understand what really makes Fern tick. The movie tried to explain it to me, but I don't quite understand the woman. But that doesn't matter. The insight into this life of the nomads was as interesting as it was depressing, but sometimes also adventurously beautiful. It is a very simple and at the same time difficult, free life in chains, so to speak. But what (in) life is simple? Every lifestyle brings joys and pitfalls.
Anyway, the very long visible images, the partly beautiful and depressing mood, the soundtrack, everything is appropriate. The term arthouse often did not go out of my head. It is not a film for leisurely hours. It is one that makes you think. And not just about how nomads live, but how you live yourself. Do you really enjoy your life?
this movie felt like a long song; without a very linear storyline, one that I didn’t really understand until the very end, but a fundamentally important one
9/10
They couldn’t have found a better actress than Frances McDormand to lead this realistic drama. She and her road trip friends made it enjoyable for the most part.
It takes a while to unravel and explain its background, but this emotional journey will be worth your time. Is it worth going down the road again? Maybe in a few years and I think this is one that will age better with time.
A slice of life drama with a powerful central performance from the sublime Frances McDormand. Some people have criticised the slow pace but they are kind of missing the point. It’s a realistic look at a lifestyle that the recession forced some people into and it’s a fascinating watch. In a strange way, it’s a lifestyle that I am almost envious of; a life unburdened with the shackles of modern living.
A really beautiful film about how one deals with loss and grief. Frances performance was exceptional!
The movie I have been waiting for since I knew of its existence and the only one of the nominees that I really wanted to see. What a beautiful movie! There are movies that fill your heart when you watch them and Nomadland does that: Chloé Zhao's script is built to take us on a journey of exploration through the characteristics of nomads in the United States that allows us to reflect on our lifestyles. Joshua James Richards' cinematography captures you in postcards of contemplation of nature in contrast to the urbanization (often decadent) of capitalist society. Ludovico Einaudi's music score blends very well in moments with cinematography and the contemplative scene. The reason I wanted to see this movie was Frances McDormand, as I imagined that after Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, she would delight us with an equally masterful performance, and she did; very different from that grieving mother who wants to achieve recognition from the police for the lack of action in the disappearance of her daughter, on this occasion she gives us measured scenes in which her gaze and gestures carry all the burden ; she once again deserves the Oscar for best leading actress, even though the film does not provide any of the so-called "award scenes" full of anger, pain or agony. And finally, the direction of Chloé Zhao who manages to combine elements in such a masterful way that it deserves all the awards; the stories, environments and real people, which she is responsible for weaving into a story to make the film attractive.
Some deep characters, beautiful camera work and warming journey with a slow pace.
Dedicated to the ones who had to depart.
See you down the road.
This is a difficult watch.
Yikes..
What a beautiful looking film! Frances McDormand killed it, as always! I was blown away by the real nomads they had in the film. It's definitely one of those films that has you thinking long after you finish it. I think at the beginning, you find yourself feeling sorry for her character, but by the end, you come to understand her character.
Another film by the director that brought us the amazing movie The Rider. The experience of watching this movie was almost exactly like the experience I had watching that movie. About halfway through I thought to myself "this is pretty good" and then over the second half of that movie it really started to seep in. By the end it felt like I had experienced something on a spiritual level. It's a movie that demands that the viewer watch it in a quiet place with full attention given. I would also like to echo what so many reviews have said - the movie has a documentary feel to it because of the amazing talents of both the director and McDormand.
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They named "Nomadland" but it feels like a "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Part II: The Adventures of Mildred Hayes on the Road". I hope Frances McDormand doesn't end up locked in these kinds of projects forever.
Gianfranco Rosi portrayed in his documentary "Below sea level" (2008) several people who lived in the Californian desert. Chloé Zhao now makes a more precious version of the same theme, more interesting as fiction than as a reflection of reality, in this sense somewhat insufficient. But, among beautiful landscapes and music by Ludovico Einaudi, the most interesting thing is the feeling of deep sadness that surrounds Fern, the choice of solitude as a way to heal depression.
Does it stop being a performance piece if an actor is just naturally as good at playing a simple person, traversing across the states with no purpose but to make enough money and meet enough people to fill the voids in life? If so, then yes this was well done. All the actors and nomads portrayed felt like they weren't acting at all.
As far as replayability though, I've got no reason to watch this again. It's the tale of many spotted small towns across the states where the economy has hit the hardest and the townsfolk disperse trying to make ends meat paycheck to paycheck.
Oscar or any award worthy though? No, I dont believe so.
Kind of a mixed bag, I wanted to like this more.
I love how non judgemental it is, they could’ve easily taken the route to criticize the system and make a point about how these people need financial support from the state (like Sorry to Bother You, for example).
Instead, it presents a balanced perspective of both the struggles and charm of this lifestyle.
Also, the characters are interesting, the acting is great and it’s shot extremely well.
However, I find it quite baffling how nobody seems to want to point out the obvious flaw of this film: it lacks drama and .... well, a story.
There is no progression to the characters or the events in this film.
In other words, you could rearrange a lot of bits and it wouldn’t make a single difference.
As a result, the pacing kinda drags, and I started to check out halfway through.
This probably should’ve been a documentary instead.
5/10
Even the sh***y DVD screener I watched this on could not diminish how astoundingly beautiful and wholesome this film is
What a road trip... Long, expansive, open, free and as immense as Frances McDormand's talent.
Nomadland is the American Honey of Nomad culture, and I fucking loved American Honey. The worst part of this movie was I couldn't see it on the big screen.
It was a simply beautiful movie.
I wanted to like this so badly, but I couldn't quite get there. I have to stop going into movies with high expectations. I was waiting to be blown away but Nomadland is just not a good movie.
Were the characters interesting, the lack of plot could be justified. But I wasn't invested with Fern’s journey at all. She is abrasive with zero personality. Chloé Zhao has nothing interesting to say about the reality she portrays. That’s why most of the movie is just long shot of van driving with the same dramatic piano playing. It’s basically a cycle of Fern chatting, being outcast, and traveling while she displays the exact same expression. There's no character study. Not to come off as someone lacking empathy but I simply couldn’t care less about people in this movie. Thus I found the topic of Nomadland to be incredibly purposeless. It's because of the way Americans talk about themselves. Like, “even the poor in America are much better off then the average person in most other countries around the world.” So, does that mean Americans can't be poor? Then how the hell am I supposed to feel sorry for Fern?!
Since the film dances around questions of economic struggle, we are left with the familiar tired message of most indie movies - ~leave all your possessions behind to be fReEeE, connect with nature~. For some reason, the poor are more “close to Earth” than other people and their hardship is just part of their spiritual journey to self enlightenment. And of course, there's no threats living that lifestyle, everyone is so nice. One would think the poor fight the poor for survival, so I expected people around those parts to be dangerous but no, it seems like the nomads community is just super nice.
The movie is so superficial. For Chloé Zhao it’s totally enough to showcase what it's like to live in poverty by letting some poor people speak for a couple of minutes. She never explores why they are in these situations or the societal factors that put them there in the first place. The book Nomadland is based on is very critical of Amazon's labor practices, so it is very weird to see people defending the depiction of Amazon in the film, which is not as 'apolitical' as the movie and Chloé Zhao are acting like it is. Fern always finds jobs but we never see her spending any money and yet somehow she has not enough to fix her van. How does that make sense? Maybe it was explained later in the movie (because I didn’t finish watching it)?
This movie is a whole lot of nothing. No story, character development, action or climax. The cinematography was nice every once in a while but not Oscar-worthy in the slightest. There's a reason the term Oscar Bait exists. These types of films are incredibly successful because they are an American liberal’s dream. And Nomadland is just the typical ~artistic portrait of poverty as a beautiful struggle devoid of any real political messaging~ Hollywood movie. I really can’t understand why people are parsing the film’s lack of anger toward capitalism. The movie is very neutral. I guess it was made for the same people who were acting as if they beat fascism buy electing a president who says how “nothing would fundamentally change.” The meager crumbs Americans float as "progress".
One last thing, having Frances McDormand and David Strathairn acting among people playing fictionalised versions of themselves is jarring. I don’t understand the ‘woke police’. Had McDormand’s characters be trans, Twitter would have been on fire. So, it’s okay to pretend you’re poor but not trans? The ‘woke’ people are shockingly selective of their outrage and it’s an issue I have with this era of ‘woke activism’.
Trakt tells me I need to comment in English, but this German quote speaks for itself, at least to whome ever recognizes it.
Schau dich doch mal um, zeig mir einen dem es besser geht als mir!
This was okay. The acting is good but the overall film is too meandering for me. I don't think I'd watch again.
A slow drama is not typically my thing, but this movie is an exception. The plot is gripping and raw, and something about it really pulls me in. This was my second watch, and I equally enjoyed it this time around! Would certainly recommend this movie to many people.
Rating: 4.5/5 - 9/10 - Highly Recommend
It must be said that the protagonist is very stubborn.
Someone says that this movie lacks of story. I think instead that this is a very smart way to narrate the story of a drifter. It's like being in this nomadic state of mind, where you wander like almost everyone in the movie: you are not really searching for something, but somehow, you find it. The story works on every level, and here is why: every time Fern walks into an home, you can really feel yourself out of place in the middle of all the people living their life "normally". And thats why everything is so balanced, that makes the viewer identify and empatize.
Great photography, great music, great acting, and excellent story, also because the point of view is so sincere, so candid, with no judgment at all, even if touches a really delicate society argument.
It is a movie that gently walks into a life, become a part of it and then gently leaves, and doesn't need particular drama or plot twist, because that's it, this a normal life, in its uniqueness. And like every good movies leaves something behind for you: in this case a wondeful, melncholic bittersweet mix of feelings.
Beautiful and relatable. Acting was just perfect.
After stowing away her material possessions and hitting the highway, a widowed van-dweller roams the seasonal workplaces and temporary sanctuaries of the transient life. It's a lonesome road, one of fleeting connections and uncertain destinations; a solitary existence that's half choice and half necessity. I’ve noticed a certain sense of daydreamy romanticism floating around this sort of lifestyle recently, the glamorized prospect of working from a cel signal with the great outdoors as a backdrop, but Nomadland strips away much of that veneer in showing the other side of the coin. There's promise in such freedom, but also great risk, and not every van lifer is cut out for the harsh realities of such a compartmentalized existence.
Frances McDormand drew a best actress Oscar for her portrayal of Fern, the wandering protagonist whose compassion leads her to make deep connections with similar spirits, but whose withdrawn emotional restlessness forces those relationships to remain decidedly brief. She's wonderful, as expected, with an expressive authenticity that can make the film feel more like a documentary than a staged drama. Evidently, moviegoers weren't the only ones taken by that convincing act: without a firm script, much of the film's dialogue is delivered by true nomads who happened into the indie-scale production and, taking McDormand for one of their own, opened up to her. That knowledge can cause the film to teeter a bit too close to exploitation, but it also lends extra credibility and sentimental power to the viewing experience.
Gloomy but stirring, with a potent contemporary subject, a number of rich supporting characters (if they're actually characters at all), a beautiful photographic sense and a smooth narrative flow. It’s a meaningful picture, if not an uplifting one.
Nomadland is a trip straight to the heart. Like a bullet.
This was my first viewing in the cinema and the big screen really drove the messages home.
I think I like my creature comforts too much.
It's a good movie to refelct on what life means nowadays, and especially on what home really means.
Nomadland provides some very beautiful shots, a soothing soundtrack, a great performance by Frances McDormand, gives insight into the lives of nomads and some interesting thoughts about life. Still, it didn't move me as much as I thought it would do. Nevertheless, very interesting that the Academy would give the Oscar for Best Picture to the movie that would not typically fit the bill.
Quality.
No surprise to see the hype around 'Nomadland', it's extremely well made and holds a lot of heart. Frances McDormand is the star, her performance is truly outstanding. A few of the other cast members, most of whom are real life nomads, merit props too - namely Charlene Swankie, who has one great scene. The cinematography and music, meanwhile, is stunning.
Not much more to note. It's simply a terrific film, one that feels incredibly real.
The best movie of 2020 is not about living with nature or about being free. It’s about loosing everything and to be stuck to that. A work of art that blends reality with fiction but doing a lot less and giving us a lot more. More than we are capable to process. I just wonder if Chloe is also going to doing more with less on the marvel movie.
Genres: Drama, Western and Documentary.
So it seemed to me, a documentary.
It's not bad, Frances McDormand clearly carries the film on her back as the sole protagonist, and does an excellent job. It's thanks to her that the film is what it is.
2.3 points -> Cinematography (0-3)
1.6 points -> Acting and Characters (0-2)
2.4 points -> Plot (0-3)
0.7 points -> Music & Audio (0-1)
0.7 -> enjoyed the movie. (0-1)
Aka. 7.7 points
Interesting story, very well acted, but alas..... so very boring.
McDormand, as always, is exceptional. Feels like a documentary in many ways. Tragic and beautiful. When you can't let go of what's gone, you end up unable hold anyone or anything that's still here.
I don't know if they have been the expectations I had with this film, but I left the cinema quite disappointed. The camp scenes and the relationship with Dave are quite remarkable, but from the middle of the footage the film gets stuck in the same themes, wandering to the end, staying in no-man's-land.
THE GOOD: ‘NOMADLAND’
WRITING: 70
ACTING: 100
LOOK: 100
SOUND: 100
FEEL: 80
NOVELTY: 90
ENJOYMENT: 80
RE-WATCHABILITY: 75
INTRIGUE: 70
EXPECTATIONS: 80
THE GOOD:
Director-writer-editor Chloé Zhao goes for a stripped-down, almost documentary-style direction with Nomadland, which helps viewers embrace the characters and the story as if they were real.
This film captures the tight financial and social situation in the US and most of the world right now, including rising unemployment, insufficient social benefits and price inflation. Nomadland is very much a product of 2020 but uses our current times as a beautiful poetic backdrop for a modern, grounded escapism story.
The piano-heavy score is a beautifully emotional complement to the story, underlining the calm nature of the American wilderness and the freedom of the people living as modern-day nomads.
Frances McDormand is impossible to dislike. Here she is a perfectly normal woman without extra frills or distinct features, but she still comes across as likeable, funny, heartfelt and genuine.
The different people Fern meets during the film, all living nomadic lives like herself, help personify the life, the emotions, the fears and the challenges attached to life in modern society. Some of these conversations about love, death, relationships and dreams are the most rewarding moments this film has to offer.
Seeing this beautiful freedom, this wild and untouched nature and these people forming a unique nomadic eco-system feels so soothing and liberating in these trying times we currently live in. We come to realize that this is not only a lifestyle; it is also a form of therapy and a coping method.
Buried under all those barren American landscapes, the driving and the meeting with people is a deeper and surprisingly hard-hitting emotional journey that reaches a satisfying conclusion as the end credits start rolling.
THE BAD:
The script lingers around the same themes and the same people throughout the majority of its runtime, meaning that it’s starting to feel somewhat repetitive towards the end.
It remains unclear exactly what the end goal of this film is as the story lacks a definite closure.
THE UGLY:
Cannot wait for the sequel, Nomadworld!
THE VERDICT:
Chloé Zhao’s Academy Award-nominated drama is as much an intricate character piece as it is a great exploration of American society today.
85% = :white_check_mark: = GOOD
Felt more like a documentary... And by the cast, it seems they were all really nomads.
Frances Mcdormand was good but I guess I am too shallow to watch more than a documentary length coverage of this topic. I found it interesting at first but dropped out half way through since it just seemed like more of the same. My wife stuck it through to the end and would probably rate it higher than me.
This is the kind of film that critics and film festival goers love but the average folk will think it's boring because "nothing happens". Personally, I loved it.
"Into the Wild" is one of my favorite movie of all time and Nomadland reminds me of it. But it's a slower, more medidative film.
The performances feel so real that it seems like a documentary.
FM deserves all the awards.
Good but a little overhyped
7/10
If it wasn't for the familiar faces of McDormand and Strathairn this could just as well been a documentary and I'm not sure if that's good or bad thing. It shows that they've done a wonderful job in the portraying but if seen as a documentary it's not that interesting. Very torn.
Shout by simonwkingBlockedParentSpoilers2021-05-01T22:29:29Z
It was interesting but felt like a documentary with no plot or purpose, just showing you about a lifestyle you may not have known about. Nomads who travel around following the seasonal work whilst living in their vans. It doesn’t grip your attention and not something you would want to watch more than once.