After winning the Best Motion Picture- Drama award at the Golden Globes, and especially with all the hype around Director Chloe Zhao, I didn’t hesitate when invited by my friend to check out Nomadland. There isn’t a very clear plot in the film, but as you watch an artist paint their work to form a final piece, the nearly 2-hour screening is an effort to portray a way of life most of us are not familiar with. It’s meandering and slow-paced but also packed with meaningful dialogues and captivating landscapes. By the end of the film, you’ll understand how Fern, the main character played by Frances McDormand, relishes the lifestyle of a nomad – living in a van, traveling persistently and never worrying if she’ll ever get too comfortable.

The story starts in Empire, Nevada where the US Gypsum plant has shut down, forcing many who used to live there for the employment to vacate the district up to a point where the zip code for the area stops being active. Fern was one of the last to leave, and rather than settle down elsewhere, she moves into a van and travels around. The fact that her husband has passed and that she’s always had an adventurous spirit definitely strengthen her resolve around her choices.

The film is extremely intimate with Fern – we witness many scenes of her just living normally, whether it’s cooking her meal or even using her in-van lavatory. Yet, as much as we see so much of her, Fern is also deeply reserved, keeping most of her thoughts to herself. We learn to read her emotions and facial expressions, drawing distinctions between her displeasure and apathy to the events that happen around her. The one major outburst we see is at her sister’s place where she gets triggered by her brother-in-law claiming that she’s just chucked everything and left, obviously indicating a sensitive point for her.

As an audience member, I left the cinema mostly grateful to have experienced another way of living. As much as I was captivated by the broad array of natural beauty that Fern got to witness, I could not see myself purely living out of a van (I could possibly do it for three months but no longer). There was an appreciation that members of our societies react differently to global or national events – major job losses can force people to re-evaluate the value of property and being rooted. As Fern likes to put it, she’s house-less but not home-less.

Definitely an interesting movie and a unique story to witness. Here are my ratings for the movie:

Cinematography: 5/5

Screenwriting: 4/5

Musical Score: 4/5

Acting/ Performance: 5/5

Overall: 4.5/5