Friday One Sheet: NOMADLAND

Today we have this minimalist poster for Chloé Zhao's hybrid documentary slash adaptation of Jessica Bruder's wonderful book (of investigative journalism) of the same name. Big on white space (and I mean that quite literally), Frances McDormand's name floats well up in the left hand corner, while Zhao's balances it in the right.

In the centre is the title, Nomadland, that is built out of various state license plates to give the immediate feel of a Ransom Note.  This is likely by design, as the novel is kind of a 'economic fallout' and alternative lifestyle look at what globalism and urban real estate have done for an aging subset of the population. How life and labour have changed so utterly in the 21st century. And how a small population of senior citizens have decided to make a nomadic life out of living in their cars and driving around the country following seasonal work like Amazon Fulfilment Centres around the Christmas holidays, and produce picking in the summer, with various subcultural gatherings and touch-points in the fly-over states in between 'seasons.

The design is elegantly simple, however, I am not sure who approved of "In Theatres This Fall," as COVID-19 continues to interfere with movie openings, and more importantly (to this column) sticking the text on the left hand side unbalances the overall design. How about we cut and paste this over to the right hand side, can we?  Or better yet, take it out completely. 

All that being said, this is one of the 'fewer' titles that will be playing at The Toronto International Film Festival this year. I hope it plays the drive-in.