Nomlandland: A Postmodern West, see Lower

“Nomland” is an independent American drama film directed by Chinese-American filmmaker Solo Zhao, which has won three Oscars, including Best Picture.

Adaptation of a best seller

This is an adaptation of Jessica Broder’s story about the senior victims of the 2008 financial crisis, who traveled across the United States in search of work to survive.

Incredible portrait

The film paints an unknown, fair and wonderful portrait of a widow in her sixties (played by Frances McDermond), after losing everything during the global economic crisis of 2008. The American West lives as a nomad in the van in search of seasonal work.

A new kind of road movie

Unlike the Beat Generation, which was a form of protest against roadblocks for young people who wanted to leave the community (we think of “Easy Rider” by Dennis Hopper or “American Honey” by Andrea Arnold recently), here, CD is a desire for adults to stick to a community that rejects them . Even among these new nomads they are addicted to this way of life in order to forget their past. Fortunately, during meetings, their words are published and beautifully opened on the screen.

Between fiction and documentary

For film purposes, Frances McDormand (again an Oscar winner for this role) lived in a van for almost five months and traveled to seven states in the United States. In addition, all the actors (except David Stradern) are amateurs and play their own roles. Thus, like the cinema of the Iranian Abbas Kiarostami, the boundary between fiction and documentary is significantly reduced. It makes for an extraordinary film.

Trademark of Terence Malik

Apart from being a militant film like Franுவாois Ruffin and Gilles Berrett’s “Zvex to Soleil”, “Nomland” also deals with the spiritual relationship with nature and the wide open relationship with the American and romantic theme of the beloved Terence Malik. Places and motivation. With the difference here, the director does not use voice over and uses less music.

Beautifully filmed landscapes

Almost all the pictures were taken during the “golden hour”, which is after sunrise or before sunset. So each film allows for a total immersion in the use of a joy and real sound. Real cinema to watch Melissa Jean Jarres.

Richard Clermont