I'm glad I watched this in two halves. The first half spends too much time scene-setting nomad life and taking swipes at Amazon, and not enough time building Fern's character. She feels more like Louis Theroux dipping a toe into vanlife culture, than an actual real person. I said after the first half: "I don't care about any of these characters or what happens to them".

But that changes significantly in the last 45 minutes, which are packed with character and relationship building on Fern's family, life, struggles, and personality and I grew to identify with her and care about what would become of her. Nomad life is almost entirely inconsequential, apart from being a catalyst for Fern contacting an estranged family member.

You could argue that nomad life is a metaphor for how lives drift into and apart from each other as you get older, and that it's an important visual that allows you to view all relationships as ephemeral. It's a bit pessimistic, but I don't disagree. It just feels to me that it only exists to give a blue-collar poverty backdrop to the story that is not all that relevant to the main attraction of this film, which is Fern's character and identifying with her.

The shift in focus turns this from a documentary on nomads to an emotional study on people who struggle to find their way in life, with who they are, and where they belong, and this is where it shines brightest. The choice of music, poetry, photography, and pacing wonderfully illustrates the cyclical and ultimately futile nature of life (especially relevant right now!) and Fern's decision to break free from her past and her memories and get on with her life. It doesn't matter what she decides to do; what matters is that she takes control and does it for herself.