Review of Nomadland (2021) by Efram — 17 Mar 2021

I'd heard about this film for weeks and decided to give it a go. I'm a Frances McDormand fan so I thought, well, lets see what she's up to. Five minutes in I realized I was watching a fictional account of a non fiction book.

( I had no idea that the film was structured that way). This left me disturbed, annoyed and bit confused . I kept on thinking, why not make this a true documentary with Frances McDormand BEING Frances McDormand and interviewing these wonderful "Nomads' who live their lives on the fringe of society.

I understand how some people see this film as a milestone or a real triumph in character study, but I saw it as a bit of a manipulative exercise in taking real peoples stories and fictionalizing them for the aggrandizement of I can't imagine who.

I won't get into the acting because the real people were so much more engaging than the stars, and that was the problem. The directing was at the best description adequate but nowhere near the skills et of someone like Aaron Sorkin, or Emerald Fennell who really created something amazing and impactful with "Promising Young Woman".

I don't want to take anything away from Ms. Zhao. it takes a lot to get any film made, but in this case, I felt like a nomad myself, wandering between scenes trying to find an emotional truth to what she saw and portrayed onscreen.

If this was a true documentary I believe it would have had a lot more impact. As a vehicle for Hollywood stars it fell far short of its intended emotional impact for me.