Review: Nomadland

Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao, tells the tale of Fern (Frances McDormand), a solitary woman who, after the shutdown of the US Gypsum plant she worked at and the death of her husband, decides to live life on the road as a nomad, looking to make ends meet. On the road she meets other fellow nomads who help her become a better nomad and a better person in her journey.

And that’s all there is too it. As you can see there isn’t much of a story to be had here. This is a very character driven character study from director Chloé Zhao who also directed 2017’s The Rider and the upcoming Marvel film Eternals. I enjoy a good old fashion character study as much as the next person, but for me to enjoy a character study one must have a unique, complex character to drive it. The central character here is good enough, but not quite as complex as I wanted. Nomadland shines in a lot of aspects, but when it comes to the core element of the film it’s kind of underwhelming.

Right off the bat the film is shot beautifully. The cinematography is stunning and thoughtful throughout, and the natural soft lighting really makes these scenes feel dreamlike in a sense. Frances McDormand is wonderful in this film; there’s a great level of subtlety in her performance that reveals just enough emotion without going all out or showing too little. The rest of the cast was pretty great themselves, with a good amount of them actual nomads who don’t seem out of place being in this film, the music helps complement the scene nicely, Zhao’s direction is on point, and the dialogue these characters are having with each other feels natural.

Now as I mentioned before, for me to enjoy a character study, the main character the film is focused on needs to be unique, and unfortunately here this film’s protagonist isn’t very deep. She has a lot of backstory that gets peeled back throughout the film, giving us an idea why she is the way she is, but the film doesn’t do anything else with the information. Things happen just for the sake of happening in this film; we get a lot of neat slice of life moments but it adds nothing in terms of character development or change. It also doesn’t help that this film essentially has no story.

Overall this film is more a reflection on nature in general than anything. There’s enough for me to elevate this film to be more than your average Oscar bait film, but people who want a clear point in their films will most likely be turned off by this film. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy then by all means go check it out when it becomes more widely available. I’m glad I saw this film but don’t consider me fully on its hype train to the Oscars.

Final Verdict: 6/10