Will 'Nomadland' win Best Picture at Critics Choice Awards 2021? How Frances McDormand is the film's trump card
Chloe Zhao has undoubtedly become one of the most exciting filmmakers to watch out for in recent times. With independent movies like ‘Songs My Brother Taught Me’ and ‘The Rider’, the dazzling filmmaker has been responsible for giving some sublime storylines. She is known for casting non-actors in her movies and gives them a chance to perform embroidered versions of their own lives.
However, her third film ‘Nomadland’ is a bit different and includes a couple of big names in the industry. But that doesn’t mean Zhao has forgotten how to enthrall the viewers with an engaging storyline set in real environments. ‘Nomadland’ tells the story of a woman named ‘Fern’ (Frances McDormand) who has lost everything in the Great Recession. As a result, she packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. Fern’s new life requires toughness and vigilance as it forces her to change the currents of emotion.
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The film, set in 2011, opens with Fern joining an Amazon factory and moving into a van christened “Vanguard” by her. She is clearly going through a major lifestyle change and is trying to lead a life like a “nomad” and she is trying really hard. In one of the scenes, you’ll see her YouTube history filled with videos on how to live a happy life by becoming a nomad.
The salary she gets from Amazon isn’t enough for her survival and shows that real life isn’t as glamorous as Instagram influencers will have you believe.
That’s how the movie starts to take you on a journey that is filled with loneliness and real-life problems, but it has some really wonderful moments as well. This is one trip that you definitely don’t want to miss. McDormand’s portrayal of Fern is magical and delightfully natural. The most amazing part of McDormand’s personality is that she is brilliant in adapting to her surroundings and she does it so well in the movie.
I mean, the movie is a bit slow for the millennial generation, but if you want to see a movie with people experiencing loss and awkward life-encounters, McDormand is the actress you want to see in it. Her role in the film is restrained, quiet. Even if the movie has a lot of different storylines based on different people, whenever McDormand is on the screen you see something special from her.
The major part of the story revolves around how a capitalistic society doesn’t value citizens who don’t have a home or don’t have steady jobs. Does society consider them as equal citizens? The answer to that question, tragically detailed in the movie is “no”. This is what makes ‘Nomadland’ more than just a movie.
Above and all, the film can make you feel in such ways that you never imagined and suddenly you resonate with Fern and all the characters that appear in front of you. The movie seems to understand loss a way that few movies do.
Will ‘Nomadland’ win the best picture at the Critics Choice Awards?
The movie has already won numerous accolades and recently received the best picture award at the Golden Globes. It is such a pleasure to see when such movies win the prizes that they richly deserve. Zhao’s third venture as a director is not just a movie about a woman experiencing loss and living an alternate life. It is more than that.
It is about how loss can change a person in real life and how a major shift in their lifestyle change can change a person’s personality as a whole.
‘Nomadland’ is an experience that you need to have on the biggest screen possible. No, it doesn’t have superb visual effects, but the world created by Zhao will certainly draw you in and take you on a journey that resonates with your own life. Zhao excels in what she wants to convey and makes a slow-paced movie into a journey of a lifetime.
The Critics Choice Awards are held annually to honor the finest in cinematic and television achievement by the Critics Choice Association. The award show will air from 7 pm ET to 10 pm ET on The CW.
