Tweet
After the loss of her husband and job, a woman drives the western states looking for work, space and herself. In IMAX at the AMC Garden State 16, Paramus, New Jersey.
*****
“It’s not that I am homeless, I just don’t have a house,” says Fern, the introverted widow at the center of this film, who lost her job when the closure of a gypsum plant erased her town to the point that the Post Office deleted the ZIP code. What she does have is a battered Ford Econoline van that she lives in and uses to cruise the west looking for a paying gig; seasonal work at an Amazon warehouse, cleaning the bathrooms at a national park, line cook at Wall Drug. What she does NOT seem to be interested in is any lasting human connection, not with her concerned sister, not with fellow wanderers and certainly not with the handsome fellow nomad who is making tentative approaches to both her and the family he abandoned.
This movie is kind of a mix of narrative feature and documentary, a look at a full-circle-and-beyond year of this woman’s life. The whole “nomad” thing is fascinating, a group of people on hard times who always seem to run into each other as they move from state to state. They always have each others backs and frankly seem to be having a grand time of it, having to poop in a bucket notwithstanding. It’s moving in spots without any real drama beyond Frances McDormand’s conflicted character, who winds up more frustrating than sympathetic and almost self-absorbed in her rootlessness. The supporting cast, including David Strathairn and actual members of this group are great, and the cinematography of the Dakota, Arizona and Nevada locations absolutely supports IMAX presentation.
I’m not getting the Best Picture Oscar buzz surrounding this but it’s worth seeing just for a glimpse at this unusual group of folks and their lifestyle, and the toll sudden catastrophic unemployment takes on some. If you want to see it and it shows up on a PLF screen near you it might be worth a trip, otherwise you'd be good streaming it later in the month.
*****
“It’s not that I am homeless, I just don’t have a house,” says Fern, the introverted widow at the center of this film, who lost her job when the closure of a gypsum plant erased her town to the point that the Post Office deleted the ZIP code. What she does have is a battered Ford Econoline van that she lives in and uses to cruise the west looking for a paying gig; seasonal work at an Amazon warehouse, cleaning the bathrooms at a national park, line cook at Wall Drug. What she does NOT seem to be interested in is any lasting human connection, not with her concerned sister, not with fellow wanderers and certainly not with the handsome fellow nomad who is making tentative approaches to both her and the family he abandoned.
This movie is kind of a mix of narrative feature and documentary, a look at a full-circle-and-beyond year of this woman’s life. The whole “nomad” thing is fascinating, a group of people on hard times who always seem to run into each other as they move from state to state. They always have each others backs and frankly seem to be having a grand time of it, having to poop in a bucket notwithstanding. It’s moving in spots without any real drama beyond Frances McDormand’s conflicted character, who winds up more frustrating than sympathetic and almost self-absorbed in her rootlessness. The supporting cast, including David Strathairn and actual members of this group are great, and the cinematography of the Dakota, Arizona and Nevada locations absolutely supports IMAX presentation.
I’m not getting the Best Picture Oscar buzz surrounding this but it’s worth seeing just for a glimpse at this unusual group of folks and their lifestyle, and the toll sudden catastrophic unemployment takes on some. If you want to see it and it shows up on a PLF screen near you it might be worth a trip, otherwise you'd be good streaming it later in the month.
Comment