Fern decides to pack up and leave her town Empire, Nevada after the death of her husband and the town's sole employer at the US Gypsum plant closes due to the Great Recession in 2011. Fern has a van in which she now lives in, becoming a 'nomad'. Along her way she meets various different people who impact her life in certain ways and she has to adapt to living on the road.
Fern was an interesting character, you could tell that she had adapted to being alone but always had friends and people around her. She was determined with her new lifestyle, and adapted pretty quickly. You never quite knew what she was thinking but whatever it was, she looked content. She found a few friends on the road, the nomads are like one big community. Her friend Linda May suggested that Fern go to Arizona where Bob Wells was hosting many nomads for a workshop on how to live on the road. For Fern to be immersed into that community of loving and supportive people was a real high, and reassured her that you can live in this way.
Frances McDormand plays the character Fern, and she does not disappoint in her performance. I wouldn't be surprised if she won many awards for this movie. Just everything about her was perfect, and real to life. What was so fascinating about Nomadland is that is is based off of a non-fiction book written by Jessica Bruder about this very same subject of older people switching lifestyles in search of seasonal work after the recession. Some of the people that Jessica wrote about featured in this film. Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells are playing a fictional version of themselves. It's a concept that I don't think I've seen before and it made me more invested knowing that these are real people living this way.
The soundtrack by Ludovico Einaudi was stunning. It fit so well with the narrative and filled in the empty space when there was no dialogue. The tone was set and brought another emotional element to this film and set of characters.
We could not speak about this film without talking about Chloe Zhao. It was written, directed and edited by Zhao, this was her piece of work pretty much entirely and you could see the care put into it. Visually it was beautiful, and showed the off the vastness of the US. There were many bubblegum sunsets, deserts plains, and mountainous areas. The editing also was careful, it allowed scenes to bloom and wasn't rushed in any way. While it showed off the beauty and freedom of living as a nomad, it did show up some of the cons, liking having to find somewhere to park, freezing conditions, manual seasonal work. It also means that you're away from family and friends, many of the nomad friends are in passing and you might only happen to bump into them at a campground.
This movie is about death as much as it is life. The idea of being a nomad is to live in a way that you are free and alive. To live your life with no regrets so to speak, so that you die in peace. A lot of people who took on that lifestyle that Fern meets they've had death in their lives and it has been the catalyst to drop everything and hit the road. Nomadland is a stunning piece of art which is very thought provoking, and helped along with the brilliant performance from Frances McDormand.
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