Nomadland

Chloé Zhao's Nomadland is one of the quietest and most reflective movies I have ever seen.  And yet, in the middle of it all, is a wonderful source of life provided by Frances McDormand's Oscar-winning performance.  If this movie has the subtle ability to captivate us without the audience realizing its true power while it plays out, then McDormand grabs us and never lets go every second she is on screen.

She plays a widow named Fern who left her old life behind when she was young to marry a man, and set up a new one in the small town of Empire, NV.  Empire was one of those manufacturing towns that once made up a good part of America, but disappeared over time.  When a recession hit in 2011, most of it was devastated, and the people who lived there were displaced.  Having lost her husband to an illness and her home town, Fern decides to put most of her belongings into a storage garage, and hit the road in a beat up old van she calls "Vanguard".  For the next year or so, that van will be her home, as she works various jobs, travels the country, and meets a wide range of people who are the same as her, and live out of their vans or RVs.

It's not that Fern doesn't have any friends or a support system.  There are people who offer her a place to stay if she needs it.  When a friend's teenage daughter asks if Fern is homeless like she heard, Fern states that she is simply "houseless", which she emphasizes is a different thing.  Fern is a proud woman, and she sees nothing unusual about what she's doing, or where she lives.  Along the way at various trailer parks or designated rest areas, she meets other people who tell her their stories, and how they wound up living out of their vehicles.  Many of the people that Fern encounters are real, and played by the actual people, so they are telling their true stories.  The movie was inspired by a book written by Jessica Bruder, where she spoke to the people that Fern encounters during the course of the film.  

Many of these stories are engaging and unforgettable, like when we are introduced to a woman by the name of Linda May, who talks of the time she almost ended her own life, but seeing her two dogs changed her mind.  This is not a straight Point A to Point B narrative film.  It's a movie about encounters, and small plots, such as when Fern encounters a man named Dave (David Strathairn), who clearly has a crush on her, and wants to get closer, despite her continuous attempts to rebuff him.  It's also a movie about small victories and tragedies that Fern encounters along the way, such as when her van breaks down, and the mechanic suggests that she sell her current vehicle for scrap, and buy a new one.  Her response is simple, yet powerful.  She can't sell it.  It's her home.

Nomadland understands that people live on the road and out of their vehicles for different reasons, and shows us all sides.  Some, like Fern, simply want to feel liberated and see as much of the world as they can.  Some don't have much time on this world left, and want to go on one last adventure.  Some are forced to out of financial difficulties.  The way the movie examines and contrasts these different people and their stories is what gives it its immense power.  This is not a depressing or sad film, although the tone is occasionally solemn.  It is an examination of different walks of life that makes up the land, as well as the land itself, seen through the eyes of this woman in her 60s who adjusts to her new life with some difficulty, but never feels alone, because of the people she meets.

The final five minutes or so (which I will not reveal here) contain no dialogue, but are so powerful due to McDormand's performance and her facial expressions at what she is seeing.  Her physical performance, and the beautiful music score by Ludovico Einaudi say it all.  Nomadland is a film that slowly draws you in, and by the time it's done, you feel like you have seen so much.  It does so with quiet complexity, a captivating script, and an equally captivating performances. 

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