In the early autumn Chicago night, the stars twinkled beside the still bright office building, the computer screen was on, the subtitles were scrolling, the desk lamp was dim, the mobile phone screen was black, and a person at the desk, like the protagonist Fern in the film, was lonely.
"Nowhere" is undoubtedly an anticipated film, adapted from Jessica Bruder's novel of the same name, Nomadland, which won the highest honor at the Venice Film Festival not long ago, and continued to shine at TIFF and NYFF. At the same time, this film is also mysterious. The director is Zhao Ting, who is not well known to most audiences. Most of the titles in the media are the stepdaughters of a famous actor. The location is set in Nevada and nearby in the United States. It is still an unfamiliar place to people.
The protagonist in the film is Fern, played by Oscar-winning actress McDormand, who is also the producer of the film. At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the economy was depressed, Fern represented many working classes in the American Midwest, many factories closed, Fern was laid off and unemployed, no salary means unable to pay the mortgage, lost the house, and at the same time his husband He also died of illness and had nothing but a small white truck for a while.
So Fern drove the only truck and began to "wander" in the American West. On the way, I met many friends with similar experiences. It is worth mentioning that many actors in the film are not professionals. They are homeless and have nothing but a small truck. Many homeless people have a similar experience, losing their job, losing their house, losing a loved one... Homelessness seems to be the antidote to life and the best way to heal the pain. Homeless people are real, excreted in trucks is real, and sub-zero winter nights in old trucks are not fictional.
The film is still engraved with Zhao Ting's familiar personal style, the vast western landscape, the overlapping encounter between man and nature, the bonfire at night and the eloquent language of the camera. Combining with nature makes people unable to think of Transcendentalism. Unlike Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman and others, the original intention of the wanderers in the film is probably to wander aimlessly Find self-redemption, heal the pain of the past, and find the meaning of life once again after losing a loved one.
The genius of "A Land of Nowhere" is its unique "poetry". The difference between poetry and novels is that most of the time, rather than giving you direct story information and feelings, poetry tends to convey an emotion, a feeling, that guides you to look at problems in your own way and perspective, rather than imposing it on you. You have all kinds of strong emotions. Like "Knight", Zhao Ting did not deliberately make the audience feel pity and sympathy for the protagonist Fern in "Nowhere", she cleverly set Fern into such a three-dimensional character, like you know in real life friend. In the process of watching the movie, whenever you feel sad for Fern, the plot pulls you back, allowing people to more fully understand the meaning behind Fern's character. Relatives and close friends extend life to Fern, but for her, after the trauma of life, loneliness seems to be the only way.
There are so many extreme wide shots in the film, where the homeless look so tiny, as small as a grain of sand, in front of the vast desert highway plains of Nebraska, South Dakota, Nevada, and Arizona. But at the same time, these people are so strong and huge. After the suicide of his son, Bob Wells, the "initiator" of the homeless, is still strong to find the meaning of life and help more homeless people who have lost their homes and jobs and need help. Fern still works odd jobs after losing his job, house, and lover, driving a pickup truck across the West; Swankie still drives his only one when he has cancer and knows his time is short. The small truck, at the age of 75, resolutely drove to the holy place in his heart... These ordinary characters, after suffering the heavy blow of life, still raised their heads and bravely faced life and reality. Tiny, they are giants of life.
Shakespeare's sonnets are mentioned in the film. But I think if "Nowhere" is a poem, then she's probably Emerson's "Azalea,"
In May, when the sea breeze pierces our loneliness, a clump of fresh rhododendrons make me stop in the woods. Leafless flowers spread in damp corners, and the moors and sluggish streams feel the love.
As Bob Wells said in the movie, there is never a last goodbye in this world, we will have a date later!
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Written in Chicago
9/26/20
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