Nomadland

Released 19th February 2021, Nomadland follows a woman in the wake of 2009’s Great Recession as she travels America as a nomad living out of her van. At its heart, this film encapsulates the lifestyle of a nomad in extraordinary detail thanks to the laser-focus of Frances McDormand’s Fern and the many individuals she meets during her travels. The narrative also succeeds in delivering its themes of freedom, life, family and belonging; each theme is interwoven into Fern’s identity with appropriate subtleties and any further insight is delivered by the ensemble cast. One of the individuals Fern meets is Swankie; played by Charlene Swankie, Swankie educates Fern on nomad etiquette and the importance of preparedness in their lifestyle.

Swankie is also able to deliver a pleasantness in her performance with her softer vocalisation in a heart-to-heart describing her reasoning for the lifestyle. Similarly to Swankie, Linda May’s Linda (yes, everyone who is not Fern shares the same name as their actors) acts as a close friend to Fern and frequently bumps into her on her travels. While she does not have the same depth as Swankie, Linda serves her narrative function to convey the closeness of the nomadic community. Another friend that Fern makes during the narrative is David (played by David Strathairn); he sustains a plutonic relationship with Fern and manages to indicate the loneliness that comes with being a nomad and also the connections that remain to family despite the lifestyle. David has great chemistry with Frances and he delivers his lines with sublime facial movements to coincide the potential he sees in his and Fern’s relationship.

As the protagonist Fern, Frances McDormand is able to highlight all aforementioned aspects in her own naturalistic performance which is sustained every moment she glides across the screen. She is written with a concrete history and her connections to her peers is believable and sympathetic. With most of the scenes being shot on-location, the cinematography is able to make fantastic use of America’s natural beauty across the baron Badlands; simple shots like Fern sitting outside her van are accentuated by the closeness of nature’s beauty around her. Ludovico Einaudi delivers a soundtrack that operates appropriately with its scenes, albeit otherwise unmemorable. Overall, Nomadland is a great introspective into a subculture that does not receive much mainstream attention.