I listened to a podcast about Chloe Zhao’s (Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider) Nomadland and how this might feel like a top ten movie in a typical year but maybe closer to the back five range rather than a front-runner for best film of the year. I agreed with that sentiment and wished I had said that myself. Like so much else associated with the year 2020, with a few exceptions, this year of films will quickly be forgotten. The fact that Nomadland is the clubhouse leader to win Best Picture at the time of this March 1st post seems incredible to me. I thought 2019 was a bad year, but it still produced memorable movies such as 1917, Ad Astra, and Parasite that will be remembered for years. While there are still a few movies I have yet to see that I think I’ll enjoy (most notably Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Trial of the Chicago 7), I have seen the other movies that likely will earn a nomination for Best Picture. It’s the weakest list I’ve seen in a long time, coming off a year in which I had said the same thing.
Category Archives: Chloé Zhao
The Rider (2017)
The best thing going for Chloé Zhao’s (Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Nomadland) The Rider is its authenticity. The plot is not that different than hundreds of other movies you’ve seen before. Yet, it feels refreshingly new and authentic simultaneously, due primarily to the vision of the young and talented Zhao and the decisions she made along the way. This includes her hiring of locals to play all of the characters in the film, her choice of setting (Pine Ridge Indian Reservation), her hiring of cinematographer Joshua James Richards to capture the exhaustive landscape of the South Dakota reservation, and her decision of filming this to almost feel like a documentary. Every decision she made worked. Film purists will love this. Those who need the flare or forced attempts to bring out the sentiment might be disappointed. I found myself to be somewhere in the middle. The film has a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (83% audience rating). That feels right for the critics and a little high for the audience score. I likely would not have seen this movie if a longtime friend hadn’t recommended it. While I wouldn’t say I liked it as much as she did, it was a good recommendation.