My thoughts on Nomandland
What a truly beautiful, tender film this is. Already it was clear that writer/director Chloe Zhao had a delicate approach to filmmaking that was singular to her with previous efforts Songs My Brother Taught Me and The Rider with such an empathetic look into marginalized, American people and they’re connection to place. Nomandland is a refined and confident build onto what we’ve seen already but shows that what she is interested in doesn’t grow stale but evolves into something all the more poignant.
We’re focusing on Fern (a spellbinding Frances McDormand) venture into a nomadic lifestyle following the great recession. It's now just herself, her van, and the timeless beauty of the west we see her travel through. Even when the movie isn’t focused on milestone events in her life, but Fern just living life, and it's just riveting. Thanks to Zhao’s genuine interest in Fern, (all her characters but maybe most imperative here) it doesn’t become so tonally cruel just on the basis of someone leaving conventional society living.
I think my reading of the movie can be best put together with, more than one scene, of people than Fern encounters explaining their tattoos. With tattoos comes a memory to hold onto or an ideal to always believe in and that brings with it a story to be told about that person. If this is a movie deeply interested in people and they’re independent journey, then its only right to have moments of people Fern comes into contact with to share their most true self. Just like the vulnerability we see from McDormand.
Of course, in whatever form or fashion, the Oscars may come, Frances McDormand’s name once again will and should be thrown in the conversation for the performance of the year. She chooses to play Fern with such generosity and integrity, equally as commanding with being a proactive and passive protagonist. Just as engaging as a listener to others’ life stories as she is a person who has lived a life but still has so much life left to live.
It's a sublime performance that is stupendously written by Zhao in who already had set the bar high with her character writing with her last effort The Rider. Just like the scale of heartfelt intelligence from the potent close-ups to the sweeping vistas, it’s a sight to see the film seeming to reach an audience with winning both the TIFF audience award and the Venice Golden Lion and showing no signs of stopping.
Of course, it’s an unorthodox movie year, but without several standouts to me like Shirley or Never Rarely Sometimes Always or First Cow, Nomandland is going to possibly be the best of the year and gonna be tough to top. Led by such grace and love with Zhao and McDormand, it reciprocates a feeling of comfort with watching people who look comfortable with life. In a western civilization that appears lost and has found those who will inhabit it. Even if Fern appears nomadic, she’ll meet those important again down the road.
