Filmmaker Chloe Zhao’s highly anticipated, Frances McDormand-starring film “Nomadland” finally arrives on Hulu and in theaters Friday, after a slew of festival and critics’ groups laurels. This sensitive and immersive look at life on the road in the American West is at once an intimate portrait of a woman trying a new approach to life, and an observation of America at a moment in time. It’s the kind of specific yet open storytelling that makes for vast, fascinating comparisons, so I posed the question on Twitter: What movie would you double feature with “Nomadland”?
The answers ranged from more stories about women striking out on their own, to documentaries, to economic explorations of the conditions that lead to folks adopting the nomadic lifestyle, out of necessity or desire. Here’s a selection of the best films to pair with “Nomadland” (or simply to watch on their own), and where to stream them.
The first and obvious choice is Zhao’s beautiful 2017 feature debut, “The Rider,” a film that delicately straddles the line between fiction and real life, a balancing act she executes with ease (as she demonstrates in “Nomadland” as well). Young Lakota Sioux rodeo rider Brady Jandreau plays a version of himself, recovering from a potentially career-ending, life-altering injury. Watch it for free (with ads) on Pluto TV or rent it for $2.99 on Amazon, YouTube, Vudu.
Another apt pairing is Agnes Varda’s 1985 masterpiece “Vagabond,” starring Sandrine Bonnaire as a young itinerant woman making her way through rural wine country one winter. Stream it on the Criterion Channel. Varda’s 2000 documentary “The Gleaners and I,” about the people who forage what’s left behind from the harvest, is a quietly observant look of this lifestyle on the margins. Stream it on Kanopy.
More road movies directed by women include the newly restored proto-indie film “Wanda,” directed by actress Barbara Loden in 1970 on a shoestring budget. Loden stars in her first and only directorial effort, the story of a struggling-to-survive single mother who gets caught up with a bank robber. Watch it on the Criterion Channel and Kanopy. Andrea Arnold’s sweeping and lyrical American road epic “American Honey” depicts the life of a traveling magazine sales gang, starring Sasha Lane in her first film. Catch it on Netflix and Kanopy.
Debra Granik depicted life outside of mainstream society in her 2018 film “Leave No Trace,” starring Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie as a father afflicted with PTSD and his daughter living in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. Watch it on Prime Video or Kanopy. Emile Hirsch stars in the 2007 film “Into the Wild,” the true story of Christopher McCandless, who left it all behind to set out for the wilds of Alaska. Stream it on Netflix, or rent it for $2.99 on Amazon or YouTube.
Zhao herself has cited Terrence Malick’s 2005 film “The New World” as an influence, specifically the lovingly crafted details that create an authentic world on film, a process Zhao has repeated in “Nomadland.” Rent for $2.99 on Amazon, YouTube, Vudu.
Jesse Moss’ incredible documentary “The Overnighters” depicts the life of nomadic oil workers in North Dakota, who travel to those boom towns for work but face a housing shortage upon arrival. Watch it on Tubi with ads or rent it on Amazon or YouTube for $3.99.
Other suggestions included Adam McKay’s autopsy of the housing crisis through the lens of Wall Street, “The Big Short” ($2.99 on Amazon, YouTube, Vudu), and the films of Kelly Reichardt, which quietly capture the American West, including “Wendy and Lucy” (Amazon Prime, Kanopy, Tubi), “Certain Women” (Criterion Channel, Vudu, iTunes) and “First Cow” (Showtime, Mubi).
