TIFF 2020 TIFF 2020 film 'Nomadland' is a study of modern-day nomad's life in West America
Toronto/IBNS: Directed, edited, produced, and screen played by Chloé Zhao, TIFF 2020 Gala Presentation 'Nomadland', an adapted version of Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book celebrates humanity and community as she portrays the intimate life of widowed Fern (Frances McDormand) as a modern-day nomad.
Chloe has tactfully balanced Fern's character portrayal in the world of the 21st century, seen doing odd jobs with the vast landscape of the American West by anchoring the audience into Fern’s intimate portrait so that they comfortably experience the landscape of West America.
The tone of the story is set by an early image when Fern’s van is the only vehicle on the highways of America’s West, following the seasons and seasonal jobs portraying not only her loneliness and isolation but also her individualism and resilience.
It is through Fern’s laborious life to earn a living doing odd jobs, try and fail and try again to form relationships, against the background of vast expanses of desert and sky clearly, that Chloe makes the spectators feel that they are watching a portrait of America at the present time submerged under loneliness, depression, and hopelessness and struggling to make ends meet.
Fern’s disinterestedness in the society and her surroundings become obvious as she treads her own path through a camp of nomads chatting, exercising together, or working on their caravans.
Though being relieved by not having to confront society, Fern still feels the pressure as an outsider and being continually challenged to learn how to deal with suffering and loneliness while barely surviving.
Fern’s joy of meeting a man (David Strathairn), who looks like a perfect match is short-lived when her instinct reminds her that being a nomad she cannot forge a bond.
Chloe seeks out characters living in the margins of society to portray to the audience why these seeming outcasts define America, and movies, more than the big-screen protagonists.
Produced by Chloé Zhao, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, the film's casts are Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May, and Charlene Swankie
Born in Beijing, Chloé received her BA in political science from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, and her MFA in film production from NYU. Her films include the shorts The Atlas Mountains (08), Daughters (09), and Benachin (10), and the features Songs My Brothers Taught Me (15), which screened at TIFF Next Wave, and The Rider (17), which played the Festival. Nomadland (20) is her latest feature.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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