Film: Pieces of a Woman
Review by: Leigh
Rating: 3½ stars

It is the 17th of September when Martha works her last day at the office and returns home to her partner Sean, a construction worker, to commence her maternity leave. They are excitedly expecting their first child together; a baby girl, which Martha will give birth to at home.

It is no spoiler to reveal to you that it ends in absolute tragedy. Pieces of a Woman uses this premise to explore the uncomfortable taboos that surrounds and follows women everywhere they go who have experienced such great loss that cannot be concealed from or healed by anyone else.

Pieces of a Woman boasts a shattering, yet stunning opening act. It will be among the finest of quality and most memorable contributions to cinema in 2021. Throughout its lengthier opening, the caressing camerawork extensively captures the birth process. Possessing that devastating aforementioned knowledge most certainly heightens every emotion felt throughout Martha and Sean’s heartbreaking experience.

From this point in the film and onward, Pieces of a Woman builds a curious trajectory and remains an involving drama, even though it rarely reaches those same lofty heights set by its faultless opening.

As the cold of winter sets in, the coldness within Martha and Sean’s four walls is amplified. Eventually, something has got to give in order for Martha to healthily live with the pain. Though sometimes the screenplay is stagnant in deliberating this, it does also maintain the films momentum throughout.

This is a high calibre of acting on display from Vanessa Kirby (Netflix series The Crown) that could very well, and so far should in my opinion, earn the English actress her first Academy Award. This statement comes after watching Frances McDormand’s humbly excellent work in the film I review next up and below, Nomadland!

Film: Nomadland
Review by: Leigh
Rating: 4 stars

Writer and director Chloé Zhao’s third feature film after her critically-acclaimed breakout The Rider well and truly achieves exactly the purpose it sets out to.

While Nomadland doesn’t proclaim to be based on a true story, it is most definitely inspired by many of them. Taken from the 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, author Jessica Bruder spent months living in a camper van, documenting itinerant Americans who gave up traditional housing to be on the road full time, many of whom were adversely affected by the Great Recession, to write her book.

As such, watching Chloé Zhao’s observational and empathetic film feels a lot like watching a documentary-style drama, with McDormand’s character serving as a gateway for many Nomads to share a part of their stories. We learn that most are there as a consequence of social issues and the subsequent lack of adequate support from their government, but some just want the experience and to be closer to nature. It is a well-rounded screenplay that ostensibly speaks many truths and has significant relevance due to the current and pending fall-outs of the COVID recession.

The first half or so of the film is without plot trajectory, a very intentional move by Zhao that allows us to take one step further to life in the on-screen subjects shoes. During the second half of Nomadland, the focus shifts more strongly to the central character, Fern (Frances McDormand) and the opportunities in her life that beckon. These developments not only provide Nomadland with some direction now, but the film becomes more broadly absorbing and thought-provoking too.

As expected, Frances McDormand’s performance is uniformly great. Many viewers may even feel her performance anchors them to the film on its own. But is it the best performance by an actress in a motion picture of the year? While it is shaping to be the likely outcome, there isn’t anything in this performance that stood out to me (by McDormand’s lofty standards). 

The same can be said for the film. Nomadland is undoubtedly a strong and admirable addition to cinema this year, but is it the best motion picture of the year? Should it be the victor in a couple of months time, I suspect I will find myself somewhat underwhelmed.

You can be great, without being the best and above the rest. That’s Nomadland, for me.

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