04/26/2021
We review Nomadland, this year’s winner for Best Photo at the Oscars.
Film critic Damon Smith reviews Nomadland, this year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture, which airs exclusively on Disney + from April 30 and on screens in UK and Irish cinemas from May 17.
NOMADLAND (12A, 107 mins) Drama / Romance. Frances McDormand, Linda May, Bob Wells, Charlene Swankie, David Strathairn, Melissa Smith, Peter Spears. Director: Chloe Zhao.
In one of the naturalistic conversations closely tied to the fabric of Nomadland, Bob Wells, a true pioneer of the nomadic van lifestyle, explains to Frances McDormand’s widow that members of his free-spirited community never say goodbye. .
“We just say, ‘I’ll see you later,’” he says quietly.
It’s impossible to say goodbye to writer-director Chloe Zhao’s beautiful and poetic hymn to loneliness, based on the non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America In The Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder.
Directed, produced, written and edited by the Chinese-American filmmaker, this delicate study of characters lingers fondly in memory, dedicated to a generation of foreigners who abandoned conventional life and created autonomous communities off the beaten track. .
McDormand’s unconscious main performance as a grieving wanderer on the fringes of American society is enriched by an unprofessional supporting cast of real-life nomads.
Joshua James Richards’ exquisite cinematography captures tightly coiled emotions in majestic nature in every imaginable refraction of natural light, to the haunting lamentation of composer Ludovico Einaudi’s score.
Zhao’s elegant script shows restraint when feelings are most heightened: characters turn their backs on the past without fanfare, and when a nomad dies, the tribe throws rocks into an open fire in remembrance, causing embers to spit out towards the sky in a starry firmament.
Nomadland opens with archival footage from Empire, a thriving mining town in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada.
When the gypsum factory closed in 2011, the god-fearing community evaporated, leaving behind a graveyard of empty stores and weather-beaten corporate homes.
NOMADIC
Fern (McDormand), a former worker in her sixties, collects her precious possessions from her storage locker before taking to the snowy roads in a rusty white van.
A seasonal job filling orders in an Amazon warehouse brings her up to speed.
One of Fern’s co-workers, Linda May (playing herself), leaves the cacophonous workshop for the serenity of a desert camp run by Bob Wells, who provides “a support network for those in need. help now ”.
Fern follows Linda May to sunburnt Arizona, where she is kissed by dispossessed and displaced souls including David (David Strathairn) and Swankie (Charlene Swankie).
Moving between camps and temporary jobs, Fern is pitted with guilt by a late reunion with her sister (Melissa Smith) before confronting the reality of life without her husband.
Using Fern as a dramatic fulcrum, Nomadland cherishes the enduring power of the human spirit over many touching twists and turns without a clearly designated and potentially artificial final destination.
Zhao’s low-key and deeply moving journey through the economically ravaged heart of America does not draw attention to its simple but ingenious construction.
McDormand blends effortlessly into her surroundings, fiercely committed to the authenticity of her role, whether she relieves herself in a bucket or fondly remembers her father’s poignant mantra: “What we remember, live . “
By this simple measure, Nomadland burns brilliantly.
Rating: *****
But who else won big at the 2021 Oscars?
Better picture: Nomadland
Best actor: Sir Anthony Hopkins (the father)
Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Best Actress: Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Best Supporting Actress: Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)
Best Director: Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
Best Animated Feature: Soul
Best photography: Erik Messerschmidt (Mank)
Best Film Editing: Mikkel EG Nielsen (sound of metal)
Best Costume Design: Ann Roth (Ma Rainey’s Black Background)
Best Original Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste (Soul)
Best Original Song: Fight for you (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Suitable scenario: The Father – Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
Original scenario: Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell
Best Production Design: Mank
Best makeup and hairstyle: Ma Rainey’s black background
Best sound: Metal sound
Best Live Short Film: Two distant strangers
Best visual effects: Principle
Best Feature Documentary: My octopus teacher
Best International Feature: Another Round (Denmark)
Best Animated Short: If something happens i love you
Best Documentary Short: Colette
