It says so much that these nomads, who have chosen to commit to this life of freedom, do so with so little. While those who have stripped them of their livelihoods carelessly enjoy the horrors of excess, a single plate or a tyre full of air become objects to treasure. The purpose of life is not in what we physically possess but what we possess in our hearts, the people we see and the sights we see. The indescribable magic of Chloé Zhao's work is that it speaks both to the pain and the glory of being alive, not in some imagined way but in its actuality. 'Nomadland' is an extraordinary film from an extraordinary artist with extraordinary stories to tell, and you can't help but feel that same call of the open road and the vastness of the sky, to leave the chaos and confusion of the modern world behind and be one with the world, both the one around us and the world within us. Being alive can break your heart, but my god, it can also be so beautiful.

• Daniel Lammin

Read Daniel's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-nomadland-the-extraordinary-chloe-zhao-delivers-another-american-classic

I watched this because of Frances McDormand and David Strathairn, and I was surprised to find they are the only actors really. There are a lot of rolls filled by actual ca,pers and travelers.

This movie is definitely a slow burner. If you aren’t used to quiet, slice of life movies , you may find it to be slow going.it is a character study, but with many characters s. A lot of people with real stories pass through the main character’s life. She helps them or they help her, and everyone moves on.

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As of this article's date, Nomadland has already received countless nominations for basically every ceremony that honors movies in some shape or form. This includes Chloé Zao (The Rider, Songs My Brothers Taught Me), who has also been nominated for the director and screenplay categories, gaining tremendous support from the film community since female directors are rarely recognized for their magnificent work - Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) and Regina King (One Night in Miami) are also in the game this year. Despite never watching the two previous movies of Zao's career, I did know about her filmmaking style being very connected to reality and authenticity, not letting the typical Hollywood-isms impact her vision.

If there's something that definitely proves her remarkable commitment to achieve that realism is the hiring of non-actors to participate in her films. Throughout Nomadland, several real people tell their story, explaining why they became real-life nomads and offering an enriching, inspirational perspective of life. This is, by far, the most captivating, emotionally compelling aspect of the movie. Learning who these people are and what drives them is incredibly enlightening, shattering wrong, terrible stereotypes that should have no place in our world. With so many outstanding deliveries from the non-actors, I'm absolutely sure some of the interactions between Frances McDormand's character and the real-life nomads are unscripted.

In fact, there's a clear documentary style associated with this film. From Joshua James Richards' on-the-ground, gorgeous cinematography to the well-structured editing work (also done by Zao), the narrative holds a superficially uneventful, observant storytelling that many viewers will find tiresome and boring, which is completely understandable. It's hard to deny that the screenplay is pretty much based on followin...

Quality.

No surprise to see the hype around 'Nomadland', it's extremely well made and holds a lot of heart. Frances McDormand is the star, her performance is truly outstanding. A few of the other cast members, most of whom are real life nomads, merit props too - namely Charlene Swankie, who has one great scene. The cinematography and music, meanwhile, is stunning.

Not much more to note. It's simply a terrific film, one that feels incredibly real.

NOMADLAND

Directed by Chloé Zhao

Cast: Frances McDormand

A Review by Dr Usman Latif Khawaja

This movie is in the neo-realist genre. It is shot on real locations, outdoors, and almost all the interiors are real houses or public buildings.

Almost the whole cast is unknown, except Frances McDormand, who plays Fern, a middle-aged woman who calls herself “houseless,” not homeless, and lives in a white camper van. It has the feel of the English film The Lady in the Van.

Anyway, it opens in a bleak, snow-shrouded northern state after a title flashes on the screen:

“The Gypsum plant empire shut in Nevada in 2011, and its ZIP code was discontinued in six months.”

This is possibly telling us that Fern worked there and lost her home following the closure. She is shown working in a packaging plant. She sleeps in the van and travels through the freezing state. There is a lot of small talk with characters she meets during her outdoor wandering. She plays the character with a mask-like face.

I thought the filmmaker had seen Italian neo-realist cinema and decided to make a movie set in the USA about working-class, homeless, lonely women in the same mould.

There is no real plot. We learn that she is widowed. She meets people similar to herself, undergoing bereavement, at charity meals and outdoor events. The whole movie is an account of working-class Americans in varying states of depression and anxiety, counselling one another.

She visits a woman in a house who turns out to be her sister. They chat briefly, and she leaves.

There are too many shots of her walking from behind in the middle of roads. This is presumably intended to show her loneliness, but it seems absurd, as no one walks in the middle of a road in the USA. I think that if she had been portrayed as rundown any further, this monotonous and morbid movie would have ended in its own mouldy decay of the past and the dead and bereaved.

She pla...