Director Chloe Zhao's road movie works best early on, when Fern is slowly finding a path into her new way of life. The supporting cast are largely non-professionals, giving events a documentary feel as they explain why they've chosen this way of life - or why it's chosen them.
McDormand is mostly reactive in these early scenes, blurring the line between Fern the character and McDormand the actor in a way that keeps the focus external; either way she's meeting these people and figuring out how this life works, giving the scenes a dramatic unity that promises real insight.
That's not to be, as the focus gradually tightens on Fern's adventures. which are mostly of the minor hardscrabble type (trying to find work, having to make repairs, getting moved on from places where overnight stays are banned). The wider range of notes promised early on, where people were becoming nomads for a wide range of reasons - financial hardship, love of travel, belief that it was the lifestyle of the future, refusal to fade into the backdrop with age - are replaced by a singular journey.
On the one hand. this is a strong and powerfully moving look at the kind of character usually pushed the the fringes of mainstream narratives (ironically, considering her fringe-dwelling nature here). The struggle to create a meaningful life devoid of the usual trappings of society - a home, a steady job, a partner - is both vivid and valid, giving this a triumphant tinge you wouldn't expect from the dour landscape and gunmetal skies.
On the other, as the story develops Fern's struggle is increasingly shown to be her own personal choice. Unlike many of those around her, she has options, and the life she leads is the life she has chosen. Which undercuts the unavoidably bleak nature of that life, pushing back against any suggestion that we should be outraged that people are forced to live like this in the richest nation on Earth.
When it's not a social problem but an individual's choice, then society is absolved of responsibility. Temp work cleaning toilets or packing bags for Amazon are a good thing because they allow people to make the choice to live in a van trying to find a safe place to park every night.
Whichever side you come down on, McDormand's performance remains reason enough to see this. Underneath a shell that alternates between wariness and basic decency, her inner strength is never in doubt; whether that will be enough to survive in this world is the tension that drives this film.
- Anthony Morris
No comments:
Post a Comment