I must have seen the first part of Chloe Zhao's _Nomadland_ on
a plane, or maybe in a hotel when I had somewhere else to go;
it was profoundly disappointing and I didn't get (or choose) to
finish it. Francis McDormand is her usual irascible self, while
most other characters are played by non-professionals. The
problem there is that Zhao, like so many directors who use
non-professional actors, feels obliged to present the views
of these nomadic workers with excessive respect and intimacy,
like every word is a priceless pearl of wisdom -- even
when one of them has a Confederate flag tattoo on his arm (if
memory serves)! The camera seems stuck to them head-on. It
is hard not to make a comparison with the itinerant workers
in _Days of Heaven_, which Terrence Malick depicts at a
glancy angle, so the camera bounces off, keeping a phyiscal
and emotional difference. Unlike _Days_, there is no
background music, no sense of awe, and _Nomadland_ seems an
exercise in miserabilism.

The second time I saw it I got through the 35 minute mark,
and suddenly it is a completely different film. A soulful
piano score permeates the second half (music is use too
excessively and repetitively, in fact), David Strathairn
shows up as a cook in a diner to give the story an anchor,
and McDormand's character gets to stay with his family, her
own family, and even to enjoy herself outdoors. There is
even some cohesion to the visual motifs; a hollow rock,
its lightness and airiness, is made to contrast with the
back-breaking rock-hard potatoes she signs up to pack.
There is also a philosophical touch about the origin of
life in a dinosaur theme park. None of this is very
original of course; the dinosaur extinction piece suffers
from the precedent in Romain Laguna's _Meteorites_, where
it is the major leitmotif, and the camera work and
art-house mannerism are nothing you haven't seen before.
_Nomadland_ does not have the deeply personal, revelatory
feel of, say, A.J. Edwards' work, never mind fellow
female Marvel excursion helmer Cate Shortland's. Still,
the second half by itself makes for an above average art
film. Why make a film that is so uneven though?

The most unusual thing about _Nomadland_ is the age of
its female protagonist (McDormand is in her late 60s).
In a way this celebration of a salt-of-the-earth type
reminds me of David Lynch's _The Straight Story_, which
generated its share of plaudits when it came out. And
then ... nothing. I honestly haven't heard anyone
mention this film in at least 15 years, despite Lynch's
auteur status. _Nomadland_ has the distinct feel of a
film given obligatory hype, but is doomed to be forgotten
soon afterwards.

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