Nomads
Nomads
R | 07 March 1986 (USA)
Nomads Trailers

One night, in a Los Angeles hospital, Dr. Flax attends to a seriously injured man who, apparently crazed, whispers mysterious and disconcerting words in French into her ear.

Reviews
Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen
SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
bombersflyup Nomads is a wonderfully crafted work of art. Creating dark suspenseful atmosphere and mystery out of some mere punks.I don't get that it received no praise, nothing. It obviously doesn't meet a certain criteria, standing for something outside of film-making. Pierce Brosnan is excellent, in his first major film role. Even though his experience is lived through the eyes of another character, he is still the lead. I think the Eileen character's screen time needed to be cut down somewhat, the initial setup is good and ending is fine, but going in and out and stumbling around only retracted from the heightened eerie atmosphere. We knew he was dead already, we didn't need an update on her status. In terms of creativity and art, it's an exemplary film, but that's not everything to me, characters and dialogue are extremely important. Nomads also has solid music.
drystyx The late eighties was very experimental and risk taking in films. And that's why I'm not going to lambaste this movie.This is an experiment that fails.It probably should have been good, but this has to be one of the worst 100 directing jobs ever.It's too confusing to tell you what it's about. You won't be able to stay awake for any ten minute stretch, so you will have to watch it in chunks. "Plodding" is the huge understatement for this movie.It's a supernatural piece about a woman who hallucinates seeing a man who has died, and what occurs in the movie is something you could never possibly guess without looking at the "plot synopsis" in the guide. There's nothing in the movie to tell you what it is about.The mistake here is that the director tries too hard. Technically, things look good. The women who occupy most of the screen time are very pretty. There is some good scenery in rare spots.Technically, the dramatic suspense is text book, but it isn't inspired. It simply drags and drags. And the good scenery is rare compared to the bland city scenery. Hospitals, cars, streets, homes are dull. Making them duller with actors plying their "suspense" acting makes it a debacle.I don't care about the accents. The actors try, and that's the problem. It's all "trying". The director extends every scene to make it last forever. Roughly 90 minutes is what this runs. It should have been 8 minutes.The experiment here, by the director, was to suspend everything, to try to make the most out of a simple movement. There was a popular poet-teacher who held a "Writer's meeting" in Louisville named Leon Driskoll, who loved that sort of boredom, but it bores me to tears. Still, I realize there are people like him who love boredom.
Zeegrade John McTiernan's directorial debut has earned seven ten star votes along with a few nines and eights as of writing this review. I find it hard to believe that Nomads can be considered "brilliant" or a "masterpiece" more than his later works like Die Hard and the underrated 13th Warrior when he had more experience under his belt. The aggregate score of five is more indicative of where this film truly belongs.We are introduced to a bloodied Jean-Claude Pommier (Pierce Brosnan) a French anthropologist that whispers into the ear of his attending doctor (Lesley-Anne Down as Dr. Eileen Flax) somehow transferring his last memories to her just before he dies. Soon Dr. Flax is plagued by hallucinatory flashbacks that tell the story of Pommier's last days on earth told oddly enough from a third person point of view. Jean-Claude and his wife have just moved into a house in L.A. and becomes intrigued by the local ruffians that insist on congregating outside of his home. After finding graffiti scrawled upon his garage Pommier decides to pursue this group and analyze what sort of mindset drives these people to choose this kind of nomadic life. Soon Pommier becomes obsessed with observing these people prompting him to approach the nomads for an impromptu photo session. When the photos develop Jean-Claude realizes that these people are anything but normal. It then becomes the task of Dr. Flax to save Pommier's wife and flee their common supernatural pursuers.Nomads sadly reflects the era it was made in when it comes to the absurdly dressed gang. They appear like glam-rocker extras from a Mad Max movie. Mary Woronov bares the brunt of this as her heavy makeup and teased hair make her look like a transvestite. It's just very hard to take them as a serious threat. The Irish born Brosnan and England bred Down both constantly slip in and out of character making me wonder why they had to play a French man and an American doctor respectively. The ending is a bit of a disappointment as it seems even ghosts must respect state jurisdiction. Nomads starts with promise and tails off drastically toward the end. Not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination just not as good as some reviewers would have you think. But don't take my word for it, rent it yourself and give me your thoughts.
Backlash007 ~Spoiler~ Watch as Adam Ant and Mary Woronov chase Pierce Brosnan to an 80's soundtrack with guitar licks provided by Ted Nugent in Nomads. I really have no idea what I just watched. Let me see if I can attempt to make this thing make sense for myself. Pierce Brosnan is a French anthropologist who studies nomadic tribes around the globe. He moves to California and, at the film's opening, we find him at a hospital. He dies there and whispers his last words to nurse Leslie Anne Down who then becomes possessed by his memories. Through flashbacks she witnesses Brosnan's last days as he tracks a modern nomadic gang through the city. However, these nomads may not be human. They may be mythological spirits who have actually been tracking Brosnan all along. Sounds complicated, no? Well that's not really even scratching the surface with this movie. There's a lot more going on but I'll leave it to you to answer some of the more nerve-wracking questions. Let's just say there's no linear narrative and the convoluted script is unapologetic. We see twist after twist after twist and hope the end is in sight soon. I must confess, I was getting really restless towards the end of the film. I can say that the end image does bring some coherency to the first 90 minutes, but I'm still missing a piece of the puzzle. It's not at all what I expected out of director John McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard). Surprisingly subtle stuff for a McTiernan film. Nomads is a film that will benefit from repeat viewings.