23-03-2023, 16:43
Nomadland (2020)
![[Image: 220px-Nomadland_poster.jpeg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a5/Nomadland_poster.jpeg/220px-Nomadland_poster.jpeg)
This is a movie drawn from a non-fiction book – Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder. Frances McDormand is the (imagined) protagonist and some of the characters are the actual people from the book who play themselves. Director Chloé Zhao won a well-deserved Oscar for this film, as did Ms McDormand. It also garnered a gazillion other nominations and awards which can found on Wiki … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomadland_(film)
Let me just say that it goes nowhere, very slowly! At first, I wondered if it was a documentary of sorts, that’s how starkly real it is, and although I wasn’t sure where it was heading (fortunately!) I didn’t want to stop watching.
The story centres around a 60 ish woman named Fern – her husband had died fairly recently and she’d lost her job – they’d lived in a far-flung town in Nevada called Empire which was devoted more or less entirely to the production/manufacture of gypsum. When the plant closed down in 2011 (a knock-on effect of the 2008 global financial crunch), that was it, tickets – the town died (although there are apparently 65 people living there now).
Most of the workers upped sticks to go and find whatever jobs they could elsewhere. Fern chooses to acquire a van that’s roughly kitted out for basic living and travels around from job to job, and she’s not the only one, there’s a whole sector of the population who are van dwelling nomads with a code of their own. They congregate from time to time; some disenchanted with corporate greed and the somewhat farcical notion of owning a piece of the planet, some suffering deep seated hurts, some just preferring an unconfined if harsh existence. It’s not the idyllic lifestyle one might imagine – far from it, but it does give pause for thought – quite some pondering in fact! At one point Fern is called homeless in a derogatory manner and she responds saying “No, I’m not homeless, I’m just houseless”.
Fantastic cinematography and thoroughly engrossing despite the gentle pace. It’s somewhat similar to Bagdad Café, I thought - if that’s any help! No plastic people, thank all the gods.
The soundtrack was something I really noticed – so well suited. Ludovico Einaudi was responsible for a lot of it but I’m choosing to go with this - “Epilogue”, by Ólafur Arnalds (who I’ve listened to before and quite like) and this clip will give a good idea of the tone and content of the movie.
This is a movie drawn from a non-fiction book – Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder. Frances McDormand is the (imagined) protagonist and some of the characters are the actual people from the book who play themselves. Director Chloé Zhao won a well-deserved Oscar for this film, as did Ms McDormand. It also garnered a gazillion other nominations and awards which can found on Wiki … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomadland_(film)
Let me just say that it goes nowhere, very slowly! At first, I wondered if it was a documentary of sorts, that’s how starkly real it is, and although I wasn’t sure where it was heading (fortunately!) I didn’t want to stop watching.
The story centres around a 60 ish woman named Fern – her husband had died fairly recently and she’d lost her job – they’d lived in a far-flung town in Nevada called Empire which was devoted more or less entirely to the production/manufacture of gypsum. When the plant closed down in 2011 (a knock-on effect of the 2008 global financial crunch), that was it, tickets – the town died (although there are apparently 65 people living there now).
Most of the workers upped sticks to go and find whatever jobs they could elsewhere. Fern chooses to acquire a van that’s roughly kitted out for basic living and travels around from job to job, and she’s not the only one, there’s a whole sector of the population who are van dwelling nomads with a code of their own. They congregate from time to time; some disenchanted with corporate greed and the somewhat farcical notion of owning a piece of the planet, some suffering deep seated hurts, some just preferring an unconfined if harsh existence. It’s not the idyllic lifestyle one might imagine – far from it, but it does give pause for thought – quite some pondering in fact! At one point Fern is called homeless in a derogatory manner and she responds saying “No, I’m not homeless, I’m just houseless”.
Fantastic cinematography and thoroughly engrossing despite the gentle pace. It’s somewhat similar to Bagdad Café, I thought - if that’s any help! No plastic people, thank all the gods.
The soundtrack was something I really noticed – so well suited. Ludovico Einaudi was responsible for a lot of it but I’m choosing to go with this - “Epilogue”, by Ólafur Arnalds (who I’ve listened to before and quite like) and this clip will give a good idea of the tone and content of the movie.
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson