Director Chloe Zhao is the declared master of films illustrating the expanse of the American West and mixing in non-actors to the piece. With her last feature 2017's The Rider, she trained her lens on the rough world of bucking broncho and bull riders in South Dakota where the main actors were actual Cowboys playing characters based on an extension of themselves and their own experiences. Here, with Nomadland she mixes two time Academy Award winning actress Frances McDormand and actor David Strahan amongst mainly non-acting talent to delve into the current phenomenon of people moving out of there homes, by choice or necessity, throwing what they want to keep into a storage lockers, retrofitting a van and living in a home on wheels. Some stay in major cities getting to know the spots where it is safe to park for an extended period. Others are truly mobile traveling from place to place perhaps picking up work as they go. Many in North America have a yearly goal of making it to Arizona for the winter where their is a gathering of like minded people.
Fern (McDormand) a Widower likes to remind people that she is not homeless, just houseless. Not the same thing. She has a regular job over the Christmas Holidays at a sprawling Amazon warehouse where her closet friend on the road Linda May also works seasonally. Her roots are in the Nevada area having worked in Empire as a substitute teacher, a town that was vibrant one day then virtually gone the next as the film's opening scroll advises of the disappearance of the town's postal code 6 months after the local gypsum mine closed. Fern hits the road after her holiday shift at Amazon is over loosely promising Linda May that she will make it to the Nevada gathering this year. We see the set up inside her white panel van. She has a place to sleep , a cooking area, somewhere to store her dishes and foodstuff plus a spot to use the bathroom. Dealing with human waste is a big preoccupation with the nomadic set. Zhao's camera follows Fern on the road, from town to town as she tries to sleep in the van when the weather turns cold trying to avoid that knock on the van that all in he community know as a sign to move on.
Zhao's ability to work with non-actors employing a scripted improvisational mix is remarkable. For them, she keeps things simple. Their characters are built of personal experience on a subject that the individual knows well. Their real persona and lived experiences are probably vastly superior to any fabricated character. The film is based on Jessica Bruder's book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century. Taking more of the tact that the folks on the road were forced out victims of the last financial crisis unable to get by on what's in their 401K and keep up with the expenses of a home. They all seem to have grown kids or relatives somewhere but there may have been a falling out along the way. With this lifestyle, they have enough money to get buy can experience life on their own terms with no one to answer to.
David Strathairn as Dave the other main trained actor in the production meets Fern at Quartzite, Arizona quickly thinking they could spend quality time together. He is a conversationist and a rock expert taking on seasonal work at an Arizona state facility. However, he does fall ill during the narrative raising the real jeopardy that could befall someone on the road if they are remote when it occurs or have to face large hospital bills without any coverage. The same could also happen to their van which is not only a mode of transportation but their home.
Nomadland is a look at a growing trend of people giving up a traditional home for an alternative way of living. Frances McDormand is a dignified quiet presence in this film the complete opposite of her last in your face outing in her last Academy Award-winning role. The essence of the piece are the relationships Fern develops with the people that she meets on the road. Director Zhao's ease working with non-actors and sharp ability to paint a picture of the Western Part of the U.S.is again on full display.
**** Out of 4
Nomandland | Chloe Zhao | U.S.A. | 2020 | 108 Minutes.
Tags: Empire Nevada, Ghost Town, USG, Mourning, Nomads, Drifters, Panel Van, Camper Van, R.V., Arizona Desert, Thanksgiving, Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.
No comments:
Post a Comment