Goodnight Punpun Volume 2
Book
Meet Punpun Punyama. He's an average kid in an average town. He wants to win a Nobel Prize and save...
Manga Coming-of-age Slice of life
Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu Volume 2 (manga)
Natsuya Semikawa and Virginia Nitouhei
Book
The second installment in this slice-of-life manga about a pub with a backdoor in Japan and a front...
aftin148 (56 KP) rated The Sudden Appearance of Hope in Books
Jul 21, 2018
She and Her Cat
Book
A beautifully simple slice of life story of a young woman, living on her own, and the cat that she...
Andrew Koltuniuk (762 KP) rated Cinema Paradiso (1988) in Movies
Mar 8, 2023
The Busconductor Hines
Book
Living in a no-bedroomed tenement flat, coping with the cold and boredom of busconducting and the...
Scottish Literature Working Class Literature Glasgow Scotland Fiction Realism
Calm: Secrets to Serenity from the Cultures of the World
Book
Learn to laugh down your fears at Halloween, send your worries to Guatemalan worry dolls to look...
Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu Volume 1 (manga)
Natsuya Semikawa and Virginia Nitouhei
Book
A delightful slice of life about a Japanese pub with a back door in modern Japan and a front door in...
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Nomadland (2020) in Movies
Mar 2, 2021
And, thank goodness it is, for without McDormand on the screen, this “slice-of-life” pseudo-documentary disguised as a feature film would be almost unwatchable as McDormand’s character floats through “slice of life” after “slice of life” in what is referred to as the “Nomad Lifestyle”.
Earnestly Directed by Chloe Zao, NOMADLAND tells the tale of Fern (McDormand) who loses her life, her job and her husband during the recession of the late 2000’s and starts to float through life - and experiences - as a “Nomad”, a person with no permanent address who goes from place to place, catching on to the random odd job and living her life in her van.
Zao and McDormand spent years filming in actual Nomad communities with the others in this film often times not realizing that McDormand was an actress playing a part. For McDormand, it had to be the ultimate acting challenge - living in the real world as a character - and she brings a watchable, lost Fern to the screen and she genuinely and earnestly interacts with the real-life characters she encounters. She is very watchable and is a pleasant character to spend the time with.
Most of these real life people she encounters open up about their lifestyle and the movie took on the feel of documentary with Fern as the interviewer/narrator of the story. This made for an intriguing glimpse into a heretofore unknown world (at least to me), but not a compelling film does it make.
Zao does try to drive a narrative as the only other notable actor in this film - David Straitharn - shows up as a fellow Nomad that develops a crush on Fern and is interested in leaving the Nomad life and invites Fern to join him.
This is the only real conflict in this story as we spend an hour-forty-five watching Fern flit from place to place and person to person not really trying to find herself, but letting the wind blow her to wherever the trail takes her next.
An intriguing (enough) slice of life, with a watchable central performance by McDormand, but not substantial enough to engage me as a feature film.
Letter Grade: B (I applaud the attempt)
7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(OfMarquis)
Goodnight Punpun Volume 3
Book
Meet Punpun Punyama. He's an average kid in an average town. He wants to win a Nobel Prize and save...
Drama Coming-of-age Slice of life Manga