From a screenwriting standpoint, there are two aspects of this story which set it off as unusual.
It raises the question: Did Zhao write the scenes featuring these non-actors beforehand or listen to their stories and incorporate them…
From a screenwriting standpoint, there are two aspects of this story which set it off as unusual. First, several of the key characters -- Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells -- are based on real people. In fact, even though they are non-actors, they play themselves in the movie. This is something writer-director Chloé Zhao has done previously in her movies Songs My Brothers Taught Me and The Rider.
It raises the question: Did Zhao write the scenes featuring these non-actors beforehand or listen to their stories and incorporate them into the script? This a question worth pursuing this week.
The second thing is the Protagonist's (Fern) arc. The script ends like this:
I/E. EMPIRE - FERN’S HOUSE - EVENING
Fern stands in front of her old house for a moment, the small red mailbox is covered in rust.
She walks through the empty house, stepping over broken floor tiles and tumbleweeds, onto the backyard where she shared happy memories with the man she loved. The rosebushes she planted are still there, withered.
Fern is unable to move, not forward nor back. She allows herself, for a moment longer, to be lost in time.
Then she walks on, leaving the yard behind, passing the fence door, towards the endless desert lies beyond, stretching all the way to the horizon.
FADE TO BLACK:
What happens next is less clear than the ending of the movie which has this scene, but follows it with Fern driving her van down the highway, presumably continuing her nomadic life.
Either ending suggests that Fern *refuses* to change. She has a chance to settle down, something we'll explore later this week, but she turns her back on that and continues on down the road.
This is not your typical "happy ending." Depending upon how we feel about Fern and the nomadic lifestyle, the ending may feel more upbeat for some, less for others. It's decidedly mixed, but the face is Fern does not change.
Which raises the question: Why?
This is something we will take up when we dig into the Characters later this week.