What to watch

Drama. With Frances McDormand, David Strathairn and Linda May. Director: Chloé Zhao. 13DLN.

This movie, which was nominated for six Oscars and won three, including best picture, is about Fern (McDormand), a woman who loses everything during the recession and embarks on a journey around the United States.

She lives as a van-dwelling nomad and takes on seasonal employment to support herself while searching for a sense of belonging.

In keeping with her earlier work, Zhao, who won the Oscar

for best director, populates the film with nonactors. The real-life nomads from the non-fiction book by Jessica Bruder on which the film is based play themselves, which brings an authenticity and realism to this visually striking work.

Although Oscar-winner McDormand integrated herself into the nomads’ real-life stories with respect and sensitivity, these unconventional people add a richness to the film all of their own. She might be the star, but the entire cast delivers exceptional performances while the compelling script touches on important issues of class, wealth and ageing in the 21st century.

The film’s pace is out of step with modern entertainment as it mirrors the life of the elderly travellers. Some viewers might experience discomfort with this slow pace and feel reluctant to engage with every tiny moment.

But give it a chance and you’ll be drawn into the magic of solitude, and as Bruder would say, the “emotions of the landscape” as well as the “gritty realities” of nomad life. all the plot threads are as fleshed out as they could be, especially that of Miss Granada and the South African entrants, whose outlooks on life and hopes and plans – considering their similarities – are wildly different.

It’s a thought-provoking and occasionally unsettling film, especially because many of the sexist attitudes on display are still very much a part of 21st-century life, and not, sadly, a relic of another era. 2020. 107 MIN. 10-12 PG LP.