NOMADLAND (Chloe Zhao, USA, 2020) 3
... and it’d’ve been even lower were it not for Strathairn, Swanky, the guy at the end whose son killed himself and other small character bits. My inner Marxist wants to call it a narcotic and my outer urbanite finds nature as uninteresting as ever.
Those are YMMV things, but what isn’t is the tread-on-eggshells tone, with the muted piano tinkling away and poetically emoting. Has any film-maker since Dreyer fetishized an actress’s face like this? Only Zhao has McDormand keep the same Strong, Forlorn Look throughout.
In a film about homelessness ... sorry, “houselessness” (and if you think that matters ... have at this film) ... it makes the whole enterprise seem phony and sentimental. Especially given how many outs McDormand gets, but turns...