‘Nomadland’ is a phenomenon. The film dazzles with epic, visually stunning images of the seemingly endless expanse of North America and still tells a very intimate and deeply moving story, but never hard on the tear ducts. Frances McDormand, who comes across as wonderfully complex and nuanced, stars in the leading role. For one of the best performances of her career, the actress received her third (!) Academy Award in 2021 after ‘Fargo’ and ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’.
“Nomadland” also received additional Oscars for Best Picture of the Year and for direction by Chloé Zhao (“Eternals”). The brilliantly made road movie deserves to be seen by as many people as possible – for which a (commercial-free!) free TV premiere would of course have been ideal. Unfortunately, ZDF will only show ‘Nomadland’ tonight from March 29 to 30, 2024 at 1:40 am.
Unfortunately, there is no repeat at a better broadcast time and the film will not appear in the channel’s media library. This is a real nuisance!!! Fortunately, there are still alternatives. This means that you can obtain the title at any time and at no additional cost as part of your flat rate subscription Disney+* look at. It is also available from online retailers such as Amazon as Blu-ray, DVD and paid video on demand:
Frances McDormand, who also served as producer, is the undisputed star of the film. Yet, in addition to her and a lot of authentically acting amateur actors, there were also a number of well-known actors in front of the camera. Key ones to mention are Golden Globe and Oscar nominee David Strathairn (“The Bourne Ultimatum”) and Peter Spears from “Call Me By Your Name.”
“Nomadland”: That’s the story
Fern (McDormand) is a widow in her fifties. After her husband’s death, she initially stayed in her hometown in Nevada. Since losing her job there, Fern has been living in a small van, wandering and driving all over the country – wherever there is work, such as helping with the harvest or in an Amazon shipping warehouse for Christmas.
Given her education and qualifications, Fern would certainly have the opportunity to return to a regular existence. Despite constant setbacks and real dangers, she loves life on the road. She appreciates the freedom, the people she meets along the way and that she doesn’t have to say goodbye to anyone for good. Because most likely – as experience shows – you will meet each other again someday…
A lot of feeling for quiet moments
After she had already scored points with critics, audiences and festival juries and even won a number of awards with her first two films, ‘Songs My Brothers Taught Me’ and especially ‘The Rider’, she started working as a director, screenwriter and producer and editor Chloé Zhao has finally finished “Nomadland.”
The work, which she wrote and directed with an incredible sense of quiet nuance, was one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2020/21. To date, “Nomadland” maintains an excellent score of 93 percent positive reviews on the review aggregation site Rotten tomatoes, which lists at least 436 meetings. We are also very happy, as you can read in the FILMSTARTS review by our editor-in-chief Christoph Petersen, who gave it 4.5 out of 5 possible stars.
Do yourself a favor and watch ‘Nomadland’. If you don’t want to spend a night with this today, just use one of the alternatives mentioned above. It’s really worth it!
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