Films on and as movement The ground beneath Chloé Zhao’s feet grows slender wings and takes flight over barren landscapes, forever virginal to the movie audience’s eyes. Share Via Email | A+A A- The film begins with these lines about a horse Johnny is riding “If you are gonna keep on running your horse, you gonna break his spirit. You need to leave a little bit of the wild they are born with. Express News Service The ground beneath Chloé Zhao’s feet grows slender wings and takes flight over barren landscapes, forever virginal to the movie audience’s eyes. For in Zhao’s direction and editing, the movement turns lyrical and captures characters moments before they break inertia. In her recent Nomadland, a favourite in this muted awards season, Fern (Frances McDormand) collects the residues of her life to live houseless – she corrects someone in the film when they refer to her as homeless – after a countrywide economic downturn and more specifically, an industrial halt in her small town of Empire, Nevada.