Nomadland (2020) | Chloe Zhao

 There is no other way of saying it: for Chloe Zhao wilderness just works!

I was hoping that “Nomadland” does not suffer from the sheer burden of these advance praise, and it didn't. On the other hand, Nomadland is - like its protagonists living in rickety caravans - modest through and through. Instead of loud sounds or grandiose feelings, Chloé Zhao and her leading actress Frances McDormand rely on the tremendous power of quiet poetry in their hands.

 

With breathtaking Panoramas and lyrical soundtrack conjured up a pioneering spirit that breathed freedom, without ignoring the small and large problems and dangers of the harsh nomadic everyday life.

Chloé Zhao directs a work made up of voids to be violated and spaces to fill, her Fern is a woman full of chasms, she is like the landscapes she observes and occupies that are drawn by water, carved out by hills and eroded by time. You never know whether she is running from something or towards something. Her nomadism doesn't produce permanence but resistance. 

“Nomadland” stylizes the modern nomads neither as victims nor as heroes - and that is precisely why it is such a haunting monument.