Nomadland

Slice of life features are a rather modest group of dramas that don't exactly need to do anything extravagant with their premises in order to work as well as they can. Primarily it all relies on investment in its characters, making its premise feel realistic, and having an emotionally satisfying narrative. There are plenty of these gems that can work well that are worth looking at such as Juno, Edge of Seventeen, The Farewell, and many more. This brings us to another entry in that area with with Nomadland, which was written and directed by Chloe Zhao as well as being based on the book of the same name. By the time it was released onto streaming platform Hulu, the drama had already won some important awards from film festivals and Golden Globes. I wasn't aware of its premise nor its marketing but learned about it via social media. I watched it on the platform hoping for it turn improve my 2021 track record and it was such a relief to watching something mellow in its sincerity.  

What's it about? Taking place in 2011, the story follows a woman traveling in a van after losing both her US Gypsum job and her husband. This is definitely more of a character driven tale instead of dramatized storytelling with twists and turns. It's more focused on the protagonist learning the methods of living as a nomad in her van from those she encounters. The direction of those interactions as well as showing off the great scenery is definitely top notch in how natural everything feels. There really isn't much to talk about as far as the story goes as it's more of an experience driven narrative where it can be best described as someone wanting to enter a new road in her life following a tragic setback.

There are some problems that get in the way of this journey feeling completely engaging. There are moments that definitely feel like they were added to pad out to runtime. If those aspects were removed, 10-15 minutes could have been shaved off as the length felt slightly unnecessary. The emotional weight didn't feel like it clicked as well as it could have considering how the plot tends to shift around to different scenes quite a bit. 

 

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the actress to focus on is Frances McDormand. Frances is definitely the anchor holding down everything like a pro where her demeanor fits wonderfully like a glove. Her shifting between having great chemistry with the other actors, having a fun time being with others, and frustrations are definitely good to watch. Honorable mentions go to Linda May, Bob Wells, and Swankie for being real life nomads who handle their scenes very well (it's hard to tell if this is them being natural or if the direction they are given was that good).

 

Overall Consensus: Nomadland is a sincere drama that executes its premise well with pretty good acting, great directing, nice calm music, and mostly good interactions, despite its unnecessarily long runtime and lacking lasting emotional impact. ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/4 Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes R

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Chloe Zhao. You are in the mood for a character driven narrative. You like seeing someone look for a new path following life obstacles. You are interested in seeing how this compares to other awards contenders.

 

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Chloe Zhao. You aren't in the mood for a character driven narrative. You prefer normal blockbusters or comedies where many things happen in the story. You are uninterested in awards contenders.