Stills from
Nomadland (clockwise from left)
I spent the last month of winter swaddled in a neo-western cocoon. Three movies I have waited a year to watch due to pandemic delays finally became available:
First Cow,
Bacurau, and
Nomadland. All three have quickly taken their places among my favorite movies, and while they vary greatly in mood and style from slow and meditative to thrilling and majestic they all play with the tropes of the American western.
It is perhaps not surprising that in the second half of the Trump administration these directors all women or people of color turned to the western to explore contemporary American life. American mythologies about the West are, after all, an early expression of an “America first” ideology. The western genre in popular culture crystalized White supremacist fantasies about mastering the land and exerting control over all non-White others. As these forces have reasserted themselves in public discourse, t
The road less traveled: McDormand is epic in instant American classic Nomadland abqjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abqjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.