‘Nomadland’ leads modified 2020 Oscar race
With so many prestige-type movies exiting the 2020 calendar because of COVID-19, the year’s Oscar race this fall already looks drastically different.
For one, the Academy pushed the ceremony to April 2021 and will allow movies released through February 2021 to compete for the year’s prizes. Additionally, movies don’t need to have a qualifying theater run this year, meaning Netflix, Amazon and other streaming services won’t need to take additional steps this year to get their movies in the race.
The COVID situation has prompted studios to hedge their bets on fewer titles, and anything with a relatively large budget won’t risk big financial losses to net 2020 nominations. Case in point: Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake just abandoned its December release date for next year.
Studios also haven’t yet taken advantage of the extra weeks of eligibility in January and February, as rescheduled movies have largely opted for later runs in 2021 (when a vaccine is expected to better restore moviegoing normalcy).
It leaves the Oscars with fewer “shoo-in” nominees, though one movie, Searchlight Pictures’ “Nomadland” continues to make an impression on the season’s modified festival circuit, including a recent virtual screening at the New York Film Festival.
This lowly Press columnist shelled out a cool $25 to watch the New York fest screening. In short, “Nomadland” is terrific, and it’d probably be a major Oscar presence with or without COVID-19 messing with the lineup.
“Nomadland” follows a recent widower (played by the always Oscar-worthy Frances McDormand) embracing the nomad lifestyle in search of short-term work after an economic collapse in her rural Nevada hometown essentially erases all possible local employment. She lives out of her van and travels all about the west, occasionally connecting with other late-in-life nomads. One month she’s doing holiday season work at an Amazon fulfillment center; the next month she’s off serving coffee to travelers at Wall Drug, South Dakota.
McDormand acts alongside a mix of professional actors (notably an excellent David Straithairn) as well as real life nomads that featured in the film’s inspirational text - Jessica Bruder’s nonfiction book, “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.” McDormand elevates the material while seamlessly blending in alongside the nonprofessional actors.
The inclusion of nonactors is a trick writer/director Chloe Zhao also deployed masterfully in her last feature, the gorgeously photographed “The Rider,” which focused on a rodeo star who experiences a devastating injury. “Nomadland” blends real life with even more cinematic flourishes, including achingly gorgeous musical contributions from pianist Ludovico Einaudi. The romantic cinematography by Joshua James Richards manages to make Wall Drug look like a lost paradise.
“Nomadland” takes a seemingly episodic approach following Fern (McDormand) as she grows more accustomed to her new lifestyle, but Zhao is an economic and crafty filmmaker, and the movie slowly clicks together into a resonant character portrait. There’s a deeply-felt melancholy to the film but still retains a hopeful spirit, and the film has a lot to say about the American experience without falling into cliche political posturing.
“Nomadland” is currently scheduled for a December theatrical release, though a VOD model may arrive shortly after or concurrently. You can also see it early via virtual screening option at the upcoming Middleburg Film Festival, set for Oct.15-18. Tickets for virtual screenings this Tuesday, Oct. 6. Go to MiddleburgFilm.org for more information.
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Tyler Wilson has been writing about movies professionally since 2000. He is the co-host of “Old Millennials Remember Movies,” available everywhere you get podcasts. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.
