“Nomadland” Review: Frances McDormand and Chloé Zhao are Forces to be Reckoned With

Nomadland is written and directed by Chloé Zhao and stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a woman who embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad after losing everything in the Great Recession.

There is a lot to praise in this film. For starters, it has this incredible surreal and calming atmosphere. For the entire runtime, I was hooked with the gorgeous cinematography, beautiful locations, and incredibly down to earth feeling. Just looking at this film was downright mesmerizing. That surreal environment is also boosted by the musical score, which I thought was perfectly suited. The score is perfectly interwoven into the film and once again really amplified the atmosphere.

Chloé Zhao does a phenomenal job directing this film. You can tell just by the framing and overall professional feeling of this film that Zhao knows exactly how she wanted to execute this film and I cannot wait to see the work that she does on Marvels “Eternals”. Frances McDormand gives a career-defining performance in this film. She is able to flawlessly carry the entire thing and she is able to convey a lot of emotion to the film. I also really loved the appearance of real nomads in this film. Having them in the film and watching the dialogue between them and our main character just made the film feel even more raw and grounded then it already is.

There is a lot to praise in this film, but there are also some issues that need to be mentioned. My main issue here is the pacing. Mainly thoroughout the second act, this film drags quite a bit. While the gorgeous cinematography and scenery did make up for that, after about 50 minutes in I found myself checking the clock fairly often. Another issue I have is the screenplay. While it doesn’t hold the film down at all, it didn't really boost it either. Because of those real-life conversations with nomads and incredibly realistic feeling, this film almost felt more like a documentary than a movie because of the lack of story structure.

While it isn't necessarily a masterpiece, it is a very good film. Chloé Zhao does an amazing job directing, the immersiveness and captivation is on another level, and it further proves Frances McDormand is a force to be reckoned with. While it does drag and suffer from a lack of structure, this is definitely a well-made and strong film that deserves every award coming its way.

Final Grade: B+

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Nomandland will be in theaters and on Hulu February 19th.