Nomadland is written, directed and edited by Chloe Zhao and stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a Nomad who lives in her van taking any odd jobs she can to get by after her hometown of Empire closed down after the mine there shut down in 2011 eventually she finds this community of Nomads in the American Desert and decides to camp there.
Nomadland is very good filmmaking for 2 big reasons:
- Firstly Zhao’s direction is very good, she makes great use of the 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio and I really feel for those who will not get to see this movie in the cinema as man does it look GREAT there like legitimately great, there are beautiful sunsets, scenes of waves crashing through rocks, foggy mountains and when your sitting there watching this on a big screen I went Wow a fair few times and Joshua James Richards who was the cinematographer here also deserves some credit here as well.
Also Zhao’s editing is exceptional, every scene and cut feels precise in its cutting, it never overstays its welcome and the intent of the scenes is shown without making the film feel longer than it is, I rarely checked my watch during this movie and I hope Zhao wins the Best Editing Oscar for this work.
- Secondly the storytelling here is very nice but not in a way that feels cute or cuddly but in a way that has the film saying that these people have made this choice and they are happy with it, most of them are older with not much left in their years of life or like Fern have been swept up in the changes that have seen them pushed aside before they were ready to retire on their own and they make a community out there, sure there are times where they get angry or frustrated but rarely is there any long lasting malice.
As for McDormand however I thought she was weak here, don’t get me wrong she isn’t bad in this movie not at all but I felt like I had seen her play this kind of role before and was wishing someone else had played Fern like Jodie Foster or Debra Winger they would’ve been wonderful in this role.
And so that was Nomadland and if you can see it do so as its very good, 3 and a half out of 5.
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