Nomadland Review: 9 Ups & 1 Down
Downs...
1. The Occasionally Heavy-Handed Dialogue
There is so, so little to complain about in this movie, so this is really more of a nitpick than a real issue, but there are certainly a few moments where the dialogue feels a tad contrived.
As naturalistic as most of the chatter between Fern and her traveling pals seems, on occasion some of the overt social commentary re: the economy, the government's failure to provide for its citizens and so on feels laid a tad too thickly.
The film is largely so brilliantly subtle that its few soapbox-y moments stand out somewhat, perhaps in part because many of these lines are spoken by the non-professional actors McDormand is generally working opposite (who are otherwise very good, it has to be said).
A few contrived slivers of dialogue can't do much to detract from Nomadland's overwhelming power, though. Here's why you absolutely need to see it...