Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” premiered on Hulu on Feb. 19, and it’s an important movie. Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture,
Nomadland” shows a side of American poverty that is rarely depicted on screen. Frances McDormand does a wonderful job as Fern. Trying to make ends meet after her husband’s death, Fern puts her belongings in storage in order to live out of her van as a nomad. I think it is important to represent marginalized people like Fern on screen, but I hated this movie. Its message may be important, but its narrative suffers from poor pacing and no character development.
Fern travels around living out of her van, often taking jobs specifically because they’ll give her a place to park overnight. She meets and bonds with other nomads like Dave, played by David Strathairn. He invites her to move in with him and his family. She declines. Thereon, she goes to visit her sister who also asks her to move in. She declines. At the end of the film, she gets rid of her storage locker, pays one more visit to the home where she lived with her husband, and hits the road again.
“Nomadland” feels like a long rambling story that a stranger sitting next to you on the bus might tell. It keeps going, but it never gets anywhere. Fern learns how to live more independently out of her van, and she meets other travelers in similar situations. The ensemble cast is made up of actual nomads rather than actors,thus adding a somber authenticity to the film. That’s everything that happens. The film does not feature distinct character growth, for Fern doesn’t develop as a person. She doesn’t discover anything about herself. She simply forms meaningful but brief connections with her fellow travelers. She doesn’t begin a romance with Dave. At the beginning of the motion picture, she’s a lonely woman with few choices left in her life, none of them good ones. At the end of the movie, she’s exactly the same person in exactly the same situation.
I felt like Fern and I had driven around in circles, except that instead of getting some closure and working out our issues, we had just wasted a tank of gas. More than the lack of narrative structure, I hated the pacing. However, I think that was the point. I believe “Nomadland” is supposed to feel like a rambling journey with no clear end in sight, but I couldn’t wait to put it in park and get out.
MacKenzie Tastan
Reporter