Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” is a tiny indie film on a huge scale, an intimate drama set against the vast spaces of the American West. It’s also a typical production for the young Chinese-American director Zhao in that its cast is made up of non-actors playing themselves, or versions of themselves — except that at the center of the film is a two-time Oscar-winning actress whose very presence, you’d think, would upset the delicate balance that Zhao struck in her films “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” and “The Rider.”
Then again, Frances McDormand isn’t your usual two-time Oscar-winning actress. Grounded and devoid of vanity, she’s probably the only double Oscar-winning performer who doesn’t seem out of place pooping in a bucket, as she does on screen in this film.
That’s not to say that she can’t glam it up when the part calls for it. But especially in a role like this one, there’s nothing actory or showy about McDormand; it’s hard to imagine anyone else who could slip as seamlessly into the textures of the nomadic existence depicted in Zhao’s lyrical but plainspoken portrait of life on the road. And that goes for the film’s one other name actor, David Strathairn, as well; understated in a way that feels effortless but obviously isn’t, he simply doesn’t hit false notes, which is essential in a movie that could be capsized by false notes.
Also Read: Frances McDormand’s ‘Nomadland’ to Get Joint World Premiere From Venice and Toronto Film Festivals
The drama from Searchlight is the biggest awards push of this truncated fall festival season: It premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, with the TIFF screening a collaboration with the canceled Telluride Film Festival. And it’s also scheduled for the New York Film Festival later in September, giving it the kind of film-fest ubiquity that has propelled other films into the awards race over the years (including past Searchlight Best Picture winners “Slumdog Millionaire,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Birdman” and “The Shape of Water”).
It’s too early, in this odd season of shuttered theaters and virtual film festivals, to declare any movie a slam-dunk awards contender with more than seven months to go before the Oscars. And “Nomadland,” which is based on the nonfiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century” by Jessica Bruder, is a quiet movie; there’s no flash, no big performances, nothing designed to be Oscar bait.
But it is also a gentle, uncommonly rich film, a road movie in which the main character hits the road because she’s forced to, and keeps going not to get away from home, but to find it. Set in the aftermath of the financial collapse of 2008, it looks at tough times and locates humanity and grace, though without romanticizing what it’s seeing.
Also Read: Frances McDormand’s Suspected Oscar Thief Will Not Face Charges
McDormand plays Fern, a widow whose entire town of Empire, Nevada was essentially shut down when the United States Gypsum Corporation closed a long-running sheet-rock plant in 2011. She loses her home, lives out of her van and takes whatever jobs she can find: an Amazon warehouse, a fast-food restaurant, a gig as a hostess at an RV camp. With nowhere to go, she takes her van on the road and ends up at a gathering of like-minded nomads in Quartzsite, Nevada, where they exchange stories and tips for life on the road.
For a film about people who are on the move, “Nomadland” requires patience: The film spends a lot of time sitting around listening to conversations and letting people tell their stories, letting texture take precedence over plot. And except for McDormand and Strathairn, those people are virtually all real-life nomads that Zhao cast on the road; they ground the film in the rhythms of their hardscrabble lives in a society that has little room for them, and McDormand and Strathairn slide right into those rhythms alongside them, mining details from their own friendship along the way. (There’s a reason why their characters’ names, Fern and Dave, aren’t all that far off from Fran and David.)
The movie is an ode to “workhorses who are being put out to pasture,” in the words of Bob Wells, who turned his life in a van into a job advising others how to do the same. It takes place in vast expanses of desert or dramatic stretches of seaside highway, with characters who are often as not alone, and who are on the move because they have no place to stay. But in that movement, they also find a scattered but strong community; it’s a family whose motto is “see you down the road,” and whose promise is that all paths cross eventually.
Also Read: ‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ Film Review: Byrne and Spike Lee Burn Down the House With Style
What happens in “Nomadland” is secondary to where it happens, and to the care with which Zhao creates the world of cluttered vans, open spaces and people trying to take their sense of home and make it a moveable feast. There’s grace and beauty in the film’s physical and emotional landscape, particularly when it’s linked to the evocative piano-based music of Ludovico Einaudi, but the director doesn’t let you sink too deeply into the reverie, which can end with a flat tire or an order to keep moving.
And for Zhao, who began her career carving out an intimate and affecting style of filmmaking that didn’t really make or need room for movie stars, “Nomadland” is both a move in a bolder direction and an affirmation that she’s been on the right road all along.
10 Buzziest Movies for Sale in Toronto, From Idris Elba’s ‘Concrete Cowboy’ to Mark Wahlberg’s ‘Good Joe Bell’ (Photos)
What the Cannes virtual marketplace proved earlier this year is that even without the in-person meetings, the red carpet galas and all the press hype, there’s still room for a lucrative sales market surrounding these virtual events. While that’s true of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, the hybrid physical and virtual fest is operating on a slimmed-down lineup of movies. And with Oscar eligibility requirements pushed back to 2021, there isn’t the same need for all of these movies to make a splash. That said, we are looking forward to quite a bit at this year’s TIFF, and so are buyers.
Also Read: How the Pandemic Will Shake Up Toronto Film Festival’s (Virtual) Sales Market
“Bruised”
Halle Berry takes a beating as a washed-up MMA fighter looking to make her redemption fight in “Bruised,” which is also Berry’s directorial debut. The film is set in New Jersey and explores her fight to get back into shape and win back her child. It also stars Adan Canto and Sheila Atim.
Romulus Entertainment/Thunder Road Pictures
“Concrete Cowboy”
Idris Elba and “Stranger Things'” Caleb McLaughlin play father and son in this family drama from Ricky Staub that draws on the history of Black cowboys in its adaptation of a novel by Greg Neri. McLaughlin is a troubled teen who is sent to live with his quiet, absentee father and is taught to work at his father’s stables. Jharrel Jerome, Byron Bowers, Lorraine Toussaint and Clifford “Method Man” Smith also co-star.
Lee Daniels Entertainment/Tucker Tooley Entertainment
“Good Joe Bell”
Mark Wahlberg is getting early hype for his performance based on a true story of a father who takes a cross-country trip to honor his son and educate people about the dangers of bullying. The movie flashes back to show Wahlberg’s conflicted and grudging relationship with his son’s homosexuality and how he grows, even as it becomes too late. “Monsters and Men” director Reinaldo Marcus Green directs the film from the writers of “Brokeback Mountain.”
Endeavor Content
“I Care a Lot”
Rosamund Pike, Eiza González, Dianne West and Peter Dinklage star in this thriller about two women who use loopholes in the legal system to defraud elderly retirees of their family fortunes, only for them to end up angering a crime lord with their latest mark. J Blakeson wrote and directed the film.
Black Bear Pictures
“MLK/FBI”
This documentary from Oscar nominee Sam Pollard is based on recently unclassified FBI documents and examines the surveillance and harassment the FBI used against Martin Luther King Jr. over years, including how J. Edgar Hoover hoped to discredit him and break his spirit. The film includes a discussion of how filmmaking and historians should use official materials from the FBI and other sources and how those sources color history.
Field of Vision
“New Order”
Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco’s film first played Venice and is a drama set amid a violent protest in Mexico City. The film draws on sociopolitical themes and the class divide to show how the wealthy unwittingly empower an encroaching military rule in their attempt to keep power.
The Match Factory
“Penguin Bloom”
Naomi Watts is said to give a stellar performance in this true story based on the life of Sam Bloom, a woman who suffered a traumatic accident who finds an inspiring road to recovery after befriending a magpie bird as her companion. Glendyn Ivin directs the film that also stars Andrew Lincoln, Jacki Weaver and Rachel House.
Getty Images
“Pieces of a Woman”
Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó directs Shia LaBeouf and Vanessa Kirby in this film inspired by ’70s character dramas about a couple expecting a child who winds up grieving over a tragedy in two different ways. Kirby steals the show, but the film also includes a stand-out moment from Ellen Burstyn as Kirby’s mother.
BRON Studios
“Shadow in the Cloud”
As part of the Midnight Madness section, Chloe Grace Moretz in “Shadow in the Cloud” is like “Alien” on a WWII bomber. Moretz is a fighter pilot on a mission to carry a piece of classified information and is sequestered from her sexist male counterparts but soon discovers a mysterious presence that threatens the safety of everyone aboard. Roseanne Liang directs the film.
Four Knights Films
“The Water Man”
Another actor making their directorial debut, David Oyelowo’s “The Water Man” is a mythical family film with an homage to the family movies of the 1980s. It’s the story of a man who looks for a mystical creature with the secret to everlasting life in an effort to rescue his ailing mother. Oprah Winfrey executive produces the film that stars Oyelowo alongside Rosario Dawson, Lonnie Chavis, Amiah Miller, Alfred Molina and Maria Bello.
Photo Credit Karen Ballard
There are still some other movies playing as part of the festival that already have homes, including Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” at Searchlight, Regina King’s “One Night in Miami” at Amazon, the Kate Winslet-Saoirse Ronan drama “Ammonite” (pictured) at Neon, and Dawn Porter’s documentary “The Way I See It” at Focus Features. Amazon Studios also recently acquired director Matthew Heineman’s “The Boy From Medellín” about musician J Balvin.
Neon
TIFF 2020: “Pieces of a Woman,” “The Water Man,” “I Care A Lot” and more are getting attention from buyers
What the Cannes virtual marketplace proved earlier this year is that even without the in-person meetings, the red carpet galas and all the press hype, there’s still room for a lucrative sales market surrounding these virtual events. While that’s true of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, the hybrid physical and virtual fest is operating on a slimmed-down lineup of movies. And with Oscar eligibility requirements pushed back to 2021, there isn’t the same need for all of these movies to make a splash. That said, we are looking forward to quite a bit at this year’s TIFF, and so are buyers.
Also Read: How the Pandemic Will Shake Up Toronto Film Festival’s (Virtual) Sales Market