Nomadland (official trailer)
(Searchlight Pictures, 12/14/20)
Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern (played by Frances McDormand) packs her van and sets off on the road like a Dharma Bum exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. The third feature film from director ChloĆ© Zhao, Nomadland features real nomads Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells as Fern’s mentors and comrades in her exploration through the vast landscape of the American West.
Nomadland (Jessica Bruder) |
But there is also much of Zhao’s process present in the film adaptation of the book. As with her previous works, this film is populated with intimate and compassionate studies of real people playing versions of themselves, such as Fern’s compatriots on the road, Linda, Swankie, and Bob, as well as a precious community that has grown out of the ruins of the country’s brutal service economy.
Alongside them, McDormand delivers a quietly breathtaking performance – an angular, sympathetic portrait of an older woman choosing a life of relative freedom, whatever the pains and challenges that entails. And Zhao’s regular collaborator, Cinematographer Joshua James Richards, exquisitely captures the expansive open landscapes of the Western United States.
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