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Stylistically, there are noticeable parallels between Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland and the films of Terrence Malick. Zhao herself has cited Malick as an influence, specifically referencing his Pocahontas adaptation The New World. Malick’s films, especially his twenty-first century works with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, depict spiritual, meditative characters often wandering in nature as they ponder deeper truths.  

Wandering Steadicam shots have become a staple of modern Malick films, and we see this style implemented in Nomadland. In three separate moments, Fern walks down the center of the street as the Steadicam follows behind, drawing comparisons to similar moments where we follow from behind Malick’s protagonists as they meander through their world, often walking in the center of streets or paths. 

Nature is at the heart of many of Malick’s films, which he ties to themes relating to philosophy and Christianity. Of all his films, The Tree of Life arguably focuses the most on the natural world. Juxtaposing the macro-level creation story with the life of a Texas family during the middle of the twentieth century, Malick muses on the way of grace versus the way of nature.

Similarly, nature underpins major themes in Nomadland, specifically life’s transience and wrestling with the past, as Fern makes her odyssey across the American West. The landscape is ever-changing while the sun is often shown either rising or setting as time marches forward. On her journey, Fern is awestruck by the world around her. She hugs a towering redwood (we see a stunning ultrawide shot of the tree canopy, which bears a striking resemblance to a frame in The Tree of Life), yells freely from a cliff, and runs through rock formations in the Badlands. For Fern, the natural world represents independence and a departure from her past. For her friend Swankie, nature’s beauty brings fulfillment. She makes it clear that she wants nothing to do with dying in a hospital and opts to take one final trip to Alaska to watch the hatching of the swallows before she dies. Once she accomplishes this, she’s ready to die, satisfied with the life she has lived. 

Notably, Nomadland shares a similar visual vocabulary with Malick’s Days of Heaven, which is known for being shot with natural light often during the limited window of magic hour. Days of Heaven depicts hired hands on a Texas farm during the early twentieth century and frequently opts for sweeping landscape shots, silhouetting its characters against the orange and pink skies in the same way that Nomadland shows Fern in the cactus-laden desert of Arizona or the Badlands of South Dakota. Both films rely on the sun to illuminate the characters, and it evokes an unpolished beauty that is difficult to recreate using complex lighting setups. Using natural light also allows actors to move freely during takes and makes it more akin to documentaries. 

Zhao seems to channel Malick even in the editing room. When Fern walks with Swankie during twilight, we follow the pair via that trademark Malick/Lubezki-style tracking shot. But in addition, there are purposeful jump cuts in the scene, and we can’t make out the words in Fern and Swankie’s conversation. The inaudible dialogue and the jump cuts are a technique often implemented by Malick, and it gives a raw, intimate quality to the scene, as if we are watching a home movie.  

Voiceover is a major trademark of Malick’s work, serving as a vehicle for protagonists to muse on the meaning of life and give insight to their psyche. On the surface, it seems Nomadland doesn’t employ this technique, but toward the end of the film, Fern recites a sonnet that morphs into a voiceover for the sequences that follow. The poetic nature of the voiceover and the natural beauty shown while we hear the sonnet evokes the same meditative quality found in Malick’s works. 

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