Tuesday 18 May 2021

Day 1 of freedom ...and by lunchtime I was getting fidgety because I hadn't got anything booked until today. How had I let that happen? The lure of the great indoors proved too much and I checked out the local cinema which to my delight was not only showing Nomadland but has also dropped its ticket prices considerably. That was a surprise! So I really have the hit the ground running and made it to the first screening on the first day! It must be almost a year since I was last in a cinema - and last summer there didn't seem to be many new releases - so I'm pleased to report that Nomadland proved to be a very worthy triple Oscar winner, that Frances McDormand is brilliant - well, she always is - and this is definitely worth saving until you can see it on a big screen. Most of the migrant workers in the film are real 'nomads' playing themselves. Swankie, Linda May, the 62-year-old widowed Fern played by McDormand - they're women much the same age as me - and most of you reading this - whose secure, middle-class lives have been recast into a 21st century update of The Grapes of the Wrath. They're Ma Joad with a cell-phone. There's a freedom and romance to being on the road, a sense of community when they run into each other for the beet harvest or a seasonal gig at the Amazon warehouse. But all I could think was how utterly weary they must be - how knees must ache - how cold it must be at night in a camper van - and how frightening when serious illness threatens - and what a complete and utter wimp I'd be in their shoes. First film of the year and I'll be surprised if anything tops it because it's definitely 5* from me.

5 comments:

Sue said...

So glad you're back, Mary. You've just prompted me to book this and we're off to the RA to see Tracey Emin with rescheduled tickets on Friday. Such a relief to get out and about again.

Vronni's Style Meanderings said...

I'm dying to see this as must check out local cinema listings forthwith. Can't wait to see it. The Grapes of Wrath is one of my favourite books....
xxx

Mary said...

I really enjoyed it, Vronni - best film Ive seen in ages. Only film I've seen in ages!

I'm just back from the RA, Sue - didn't do Tracey Emin but I very much enjoyed Hockney. Oh, it's wonderful to be out and about again! It's no good pretending I'm into slow living and a domesticated life - I'm just not the type!

Xiaomao said...

'Nomadland' was my first outing to the cinema -it was full at 1.00 on a Tuesday afternoon so clearly plenty of others had the same idea. I loved it.

Mary said...

I think maybe a dozen there on the day I went, Xiaomao - but it was the first day, so maybe audiences have built up since then. I'm torn between enjoying having no-one around me - nothing to do with Covid, I always did - and worrying for the future of the industry! Frances McDormand was brilliant, wasn't she - but so were the real nomads.