Nomadland

Available on Disney +.

Based on Jessica Bruder’s book Chloe Zhao directs, edits and also wrote the screenplay for the multi Oscar winning Nomadland. Francis McDormand, in her third Oscar winning role, is Fern who finds herself without a house when Empire, a company owned town in Nevada, is shutdown when owners U.S. Gypsum close the factory. Homeless and alone after the death of her husband, she decides to embrace the life of a van-dweller. Her lifestyle is simple as we follow her between different nomad communities, jobs, relationships and challenges that it brings.

I am a real fan of films that are slow and patient studies of humanity and Nomadland is a wonderful example. To think this is a film about a lady in a van would be to miss the beauty of what Zhao and McDormand have created.

It is a truly gorgeous experience a melancholic, patient portrait of loss, grief, friendship, loneliness and happiness. It is wonderfully shot, with sweeping vistas that capture the vastness of life and how we are often insignificant specks within it. It also shares the joy of embracing your surroundings, be they natural or the people we meet on the way. It is crafted using a series of vignettes showing life for all its glory, hardship, love and loss.

McDormand is masterful and eminently watchable as always, inhabiting Fern, perfectly portraying her friendliness, loneliness and drive to be independent. We also see her vulnerability and fear of moving on from the death of her husband inhibiting her from commiting to any type of relationship.

The cast around her, with the exception of David Strathairn’s Dave, is primarily made up of real nomads and it’s a testament to Zhaos’s direction and McDormand’s skill that they draw so much natural warmth from this cast of non-actors.

Nomadland has already been heavily awarded including an Oscar for best film, direction and female lead and it’s thoroughly deserved. It is a patient, touching, warm, heartfelt, thoughtful gentle portrait of a certain life choice, never judging or preaching and showing a world and community I loved spending time in.