Nomadland Review By A Man Living In A Van

[desert_sailing]

The film was about one woman, not intended nor advertised to attempt to depict the entire, inclusive nomad experience, as a documentary would do.

fwiw

If that were indeed the case then they should not have called it Nomadland.   Which DOES conjure notions of a generalized lifestyle... 
They should have named it Fern and Her Van...but I doubt many would have watched it.

Seems odd to me that people are being harangued over THEIR view and having every word parsed.

Some like it.. some disliked it... Wtf is the big deal.

 

[highdesertranger]

yeah this is all opinion so chill. This is turning into bickering. So like it or not, but no bickering. Highdesertranger

 

[flying kurbmaster]

The movie can’t be clear on everything, why does she have a van fully set up, a la van website, complete with ladder rack for stealth, did her and her partner use this van for camping? In my mind she refused offers of housing because she wanted her independence, didn’t want to live with her sister in her home town filled likely with bad memories, or the would be boyfriends son’s place with a custom made perfect family that has no history with her. Both those were obvious in my mind that they were cookie cutter environments that would not suit her. By the way I never thought she was unattractive or scruffy looking with or without her boyfriends coat or messy hair. I kinda find that just f...ed look sexy. I see Nomadland 2 with Fran heading up the Alaska highway on sunny summer days, taking up painting landscapes along the way, breaking down outside of Fort St John realizing the similarities of Empire gets fixed up and leaves in a hurry, illegally wintering down in Atlin BC in a house sit from someone she meets at the local music festival, where she plays her flute and gets inspired back into her music. There she paints all winter jams with the locals gets by from her paintings sold at the town gift shop. Falls in love with a married women.shaves her hair right off.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Oh yeah I forgot on the way up the highway she encounters interesting characters that have stories, she gets treed by a grizzly and spends the night there, over the winter in Atlin she slowly befriends a wolf and one night he saves her when she is knocked out by a tree she is felling for fire wood, by snuggling next to her keeping her from freezing.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Nomad 2 ends a couple years later with Fran with long hair in handcuffs getting put in the back of the RCMP cruiser with the jealous husband looking on. Immigration officers are also present at the scene

 

[desert_sailing]

Now I'd buy a ticket for the sequel as long as you get to write and direct it kurbmaster!

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Fern not Fran and they should hire me I got the whole story in my head

 

[abnorm]

A mind is a terrible thing.........

 

[JDub]

A mind is a terrible thing.........

"Wasted..."

 

[user 30781]

I would watch this sequel.

 

[WanderingRose]

Kurbmaster, you need to write a book or some short stories, or something.

Your mind and imagination should not go to waste.

Contact the woman who directed/produced this movie and offer up a sequel.

Seriously.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

I just thought Fern meets up again with Bob Wells as he predicted this time Bob is on his way down the highway he stops in at Liard hot springs, it’s dusk no one is around so he is floating on his back naked and Fern comes around the changing sheds and sees him and blushes then gets excited when she recongnizes him and jumps in all dressed. Bobs beard is so long that even on his back it covers his **** which is a blessing cause no one wants to see that.

 

[desert_sailing]

Good grief.... I demand a refund. You lost me on the subsequent act.

 

[WanderingRose]

The story is devolving a bit, but it’s still really good. 

You could also write for J.Peterman, Kurb

https://jpeterman.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-Y_vu6re7wIVgzizAB1AKQYbEAAYASAAEgKw0fD_BwE

Click on any item to read it’s story.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

One of the first stops Fern makes after crossing the border is an accidental drive around Vancouver after getting lost, where she ends up on Spanish banks where another vandweller is replacing a window in his van that works poorly, in the parking lot. They talk she holds something for him then offers the old one to Fern and helps her install it. This is symbolic in that it brings light and air into the van, this inspires her, over the next few days she transforms her interior by painting it and finding colourful fabrics in second hand shops. A few days later in a small cowboy town heading North walking out of a grocery store notices a Native American with his cap in front of him poorly dresssed, shivering in the cold rainy afternoon, she gives him her X’s jacket and a can of beans. The next day she goes into a outdoors store and buys herself a new red jacket. In this town is also where she buys some art material and a new reed for her flute before heading further North. By installing a window she slowly starts emerging from her cave.

 

[WanderingRose]

:blush:

Fern will not only survive the changes in her life, but learn to thrive as a nomad.

 

[Giggles]

In your review you did not discuss hair and wardrobe. I thought the Fran character was made out to be more scruffy than any of the dwellers actually are. I know - not a documentary but still. Many dwellers are pretty put together when it comes to the hair and wardrobe, even on non shower days.
-crofter

Uh oh...I'm in trouble, then. Lol.

 

[Giggles]

Haven't seen it yet... keep meaning to. 

Is the movie online, or only in theaters?

 

[Lefty]

Haven't seen it yet... keep meaning to. 

Is the movie online, or only in theaters?

It streams on Hulu.

 

[LERCA]

Yeah she was working a lot and still cutting her hair with nail scissors?! No Super Cuts? I’ve cut my bangs (Ihave long hair) for 20 years with sharp scissors I carry with me for that reason. Only tantruming 11 year olds cut their hair with nail scissors. Most interviews with female nomads they look fine not scruffy..