MOVIE PREVIEWS
NOMADLAND
Rated: R
Release Date: 02/19/2021
Production Company: Searchlight Pictures/Disney

Cast:
Frances McDormand, David Strathairn,
Linda May and Swankie.

Crew:
Director: Chloe Zhao. Producers: Francis McDormand, Mollye Asher, Jessica Bruder, Emily Jade Foley, Dan Janvey, Geoff Linville, Executive Producers: Screenwriters: Cinematographer:
Plot:
By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

“Nomadland,” the compelling, new drama from director Chloe Zhao (“The Rider” and “Songs My Brothers Taught Me”) is based on Jessica Bruder’s 2017 non-fiction book, “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.”

The movie, stars two-time Academy Award winning actress Francis McDormand ("Fargo," “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) as a widow whose life is upended when the sheetrock plant she worked at in Empire, Nevada shuts down.

Fern (McDormand) decides to sell most of her belongings and pack up the rest in her van as she travels around the American west looking for work.

Luck doesn’t appear to be on her side. There aren’t many jobs to be had and not many companies are hiring older workers like her. Fern does manage to land a seasonal job at an Amazon distribution center to tide her over through winter.

Fern keeps plugging away and her crisscrossing journey takes her to several places doing menial jobs from cleaning toilets at Badlands National Park to shoveling beets in Nebraska. A friend advises her to head to Arizona and meet with a group of nomads that include real life nomads Bob Wells, Linda May, and Charlene Swankie.

Their lifestyle is an eye-opening experience for Fern who is drawn to them and particularly a road weary traveler named David (David Strathairn, TV’s “Day by Day”), who like everyone has a story to tell as well as a bit of twinkle in his eye for Fern.

Fern is open to nomad's advice and shared spirit, yet she also enjoys her solitude. When she’s asked by a young woman if she’s homeless, Fern says “I’m not homeless, I’m just houseless.” For Fern there’s a significant difference.

“Nomadland, which McDormand also co-produced, is a story about survival, compassion and freedom.

Fern’s quest to discover her true being and come to terms with it during this quiet odyssey is a touching character study that McDormand delivers with ample conviction and empathy.

"Nomadland" opens in limited theaters and on Hulu Feb. 19.

Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.

Watch This Trailer For "NOMADLAND"

Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.

OLD SCHOOL VIDEO PICK OF THE MONTH

<b>MAHOGANY</b> Title: MAHOGANY
Year Released: 1975
Running Time: 109
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Director: Berry Gordy, Tony Richardson and Jack Wormser
Director of Photography: David Watkin
Screenwriter: John Byrum and Toni Amber
Author: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

REVIEW: DIANA ROSS AND BILLY DEE WILLIAMS DAZZLE IN "MAHOGANY"

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to?
Do you know?
Do you get what you're hoping for? When you look behind you, there's no open doors. What are you hoping for? Do you know? "Theme from Mahogany...
  MOVIE TRIVIA
 
The "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" was sung by Diana Ross in the 1975 movie "Mahogany." But, who initially recorded the song in 1973?
"Roberta Flack"
"Natalie Cole"
"Deniece Williams"
"Thelma Houston"