Nomadland with Frances McDormand

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by hybrid_77, Feb 11, 2021.

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  1. hybrid_77

    hybrid_77 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New England


    Starting next Friday the 19th in theaters and on Hulu for one day

    Amazon allowed them access to film in one of their warehouses
     
  2. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    Saw it in the theater. Good performance by Francis McDormand, but it had no real impact on me. I got the impression the writer/director thought this was all deep and meaningful, but didn't make her case.
     
  3. Whizz Kid

    Whizz Kid Forum Resident

    Yeah, seen that trailer a few times on TV this week... not sure who it’s aimed at... but it sure ain’t me.

    Crazy lady who cuts her own hair goes walkabout... is that about the gist of it?
     
    JohnG likes this.
  4. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    Seeing it tomorrow night, will report back.
     
  5. JohnG

    JohnG PROG now in Dolby ATMOS!

    Location:
    Long Island NY
    I will watch it on HULU, probably wouldn't go out of my way to see it at a movie theater.
     
  6. Yawndave

    Yawndave Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santa Clara CA
    I don't know about the movie, but the book tells the stories of people who have, for whatever reasons, have ended up living in their vehicles and go from place to place to work seasonal jobs. Some work at Amazon fulfillment centers and stay at campgrounds and RV parks in the vicinity. Some work as campground hosts in National Forests. There are recruiters in places like the annual Quartzsite RV show/camper rendezvous who hire snowbirds to work in amusement parks and sugar beet processing plants.

    I wouldn't necessarily call it an "underground" economy though--there are a lot more Nomadland-ers out there than you might imagine.
     
  7. Whizz Kid

    Whizz Kid Forum Resident

    That actually sounds kind of interesting... apologies if my “synopsis” was a bit dismissive and snarky.

    The trailer is really not very good... it gives you no idea of what the movie is about if you’re unfamiliar with the book.

    My first impression, based on the trailer, was that it’s McDormand apparently doing the same character she played in ‘Three Billboards’... dishevelled, underfed southern woman with large chip on shoulder... not really my kind of thing.
     
  8. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    Whether this film is ultimately considered "good" or "great" or otherwise, I find Frances McDormand to be a very genuine and fine actress who brings something to the table in every film in which she appears.
     
  9. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Kinda' similar to Depression era hobos but instead of hopping trains to find work back then now ride in small RV's.

    I had a misconception of hobos as bums until I watched a very thorough retrospective lecture on their history on C-SPAN recently. The hobos back then developed a hieroglyphic like code system of communicating with each other since there was no cellphones but managed pretty well by writing picture symbols only they understood when marking a property on whether an employer paid in food, money or stiffed them. Pretty fascinating history if you can catch the one man presentation.

    I'm gonna' check out Nomadland at my local theater. I've been interested in traveling that way just for the adventure.
     
  10. boyjohn

    boyjohn Senior Member

    There is a Mad Men episode that touches on those symbols.

    The Hobo Code
     
  11. mikeyt

    mikeyt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I have a virtual screening for it this weekend. I can't wait.
     
  12. keef00

    keef00 Senior Member

    I read the book a few years ago. It's a sobering look at how some people are, pardon the pun, driven to a life on the road by circumstances. Don't know about the quality of the film, but it's a story that bears telling. It will at least give you something to think about when you see an old Winnebago lumbering along in the slow lane or parked at the far corner of the Wal-Mart lot.
     
    xilef regnu likes this.
  13. Hexwood

    Hexwood Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I enjoyed it a lot. It was heartbreaking and downbeat at times, but there were also moments of tranquillity and hope. Frances McDormand is a master at playing characters who have the strength and quiet determination to survive. Her acting never comes across as mechanical or phoney, unlike Meryl Streep. I'm thankful she didn't end up getting the role of Fern. I must read buy the boo
     
    GodShifter and rogertheshrubber like this.
  14. JohnG

    JohnG PROG now in Dolby ATMOS!

    Location:
    Long Island NY
    Have it on tonight on HULU. It has a documentary feel as the movie cast real life "nomads" and real locations. Very interesting movie for sure, well worth a watch.
     
    jlocke08 and mmars982 like this.
  15. Yawndave

    Yawndave Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santa Clara CA
    The movie followed the themes of the book pretty closely. Fern's friend Linda May was the the central figure in the book, she did work at Amazon, at the beet processing plant and as a camp host (but not at The Badlands as far as I know). The Rubber Tramp Rendezvous at Quartzsite is still going on, although it's only a small part of the annual RV gathering there. The ending of the movie kind of leaves you hanging, but the real Linda ended up building her "earthship" home outside of Taos using the money she made from being in the film.
     
  16. Daedalus

    Daedalus I haven't heard it all.....

    I have not finished this film. Only about 30 minutes in. Depressing, dark but pretty timely. I think that it is showing the reality of many who have been destroyed by the virus economy, downsizing, age discrimination, obsolete skills-you name it. They are the semi-working domestic casual labor “migrants”. They do not have 401k or IRA accounts-they have not prospered in the Wall Street rise.
     
  17. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    I think what's most interesting about the film is that you learn that many of these nomads have other options but in effect choose this lifestyle.
     
    mmars982 likes this.
  18. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    The film didn't deal with the people who are living van life in places where housing costs are just too expensive. There are people who work for Google living in a Google parking lot. The heroine of Nomadland wasn't living a stealth life, but there are many who have no other option. It can be quite rational decision, paying $2,000 a month rent or living in a $2,000 car and banking all of it. I've watched YouTube videos about a women living in a 2016 Toyota Prius (they have an incredibly efficient air conditioning system, especially compared to cooling an entire house.) She'd even removed the front passenger seat and had a toilet in there, so she wouldn't have to risk going into truck stop bathrooms late at night. I could imagine a year or two spent like this, banking everything from a full-time job, you could make a good down payment on a smaller home.
     
    GodShifter likes this.
  19. extravaganza

    extravaganza Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, CA USA
    Watched it tonight and thought it was really good. A virtually plotless tone poem in which the striking visual moments communicate as much as the limited dialogue. McDormand is wonderful. Now I want to read the book.
     
  20. spherical

    spherical Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    Watched it last night. Really liked this movie. Depressing, sad, very close to home in as much as I have been to those places and been among those people. And it made me feel things emotionally about my own life and family and past and death, and "meaning of life". And Frances McDormand is always a pleasure to watch.
     
    rogertheshrubber and Jeff Minn like this.
  21. dougotte

    dougotte Petty, Annoying Dilettante

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I loved it, too. The music was very beautiful.

    I at first felt sorry for Fern and her friends, but then I realized that she and others (not all) of the nomads chose that life. She could have chosen a "traditional" life like her sister, and she could have stayed with Dave and his family (although I don't think she was as fond of Dave as he was of her). I don't mean to disregard those who are left behind by changing economic situations, but I mean that some people don't want a "secure" life like many of us assume.
     
    rogertheshrubber and twicks like this.
  22. jojopuppyfish

    jojopuppyfish Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    She's great. The movie isn't.
     
  23. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    Agree. It was on the level of an After School Special for adults.
     
  24. fspringer

    fspringer Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    I watched bits and pieces for 20 minutes before realizing I was too distracted and needed to set aside time to really watch, which I'll do tonight. I'm having a hard time with the concept of "do this for a year or two then have money to buy a home" line of reasoning. Or simply doing it the rest of one's adult life? I'm in my 50s and can assure you, even in very good health, there are health issues that spring up post 50 that require either a prescription or routine treatment. (I surely didn't see that coming and can recall that age, basically up to my 40s, where I could envision living the frontier life or forever on the road. Very few people anticipate genetic malfunctions that will quietly go off like a neutron bomb in the last half of their lives. Never mind something as basic as routine dental and vision care.)

    I suspect if you aren't this old, this issue won't occur as strongly to you. I guess it would be possible to receive some small level of medical care when living a nomadic life, but it doesn't seem in line with what I see most of my friends and family dealing with. And I was someone who was virulently anti-medical for decades. That fatalistic "whatever happens, happens" stance of life grows dim when whatever happens is happening to you!
     
    kanakaris likes this.
  25. bholz

    bholz Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Saw it in a theater on Saturday. I thought it was really good and I especially liked the soundtrack.
     
    GodShifter and jlocke08 like this.
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