NOMADLAND (Oscar Winner - Best Picture) The POPCORN JUNKIES REVIEW

Nomadland is a 2020 American drama film based on the 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder. The film is written, edited, produced, and directed by Chloé Zhao, awarded the Oscar for best director in 2021, and stars Frances McDormand (who is also a producer on the film) as a vandwelling working nomad who leaves her hometown after her husband dies and the sole industry closes down, to be "houseless" and travel around the United States. David Strathairn also stars in a supporting role. A number of real-life nomads appear as fictionalized versions of themselves, including Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells. Nomadland premiered on September 11, 2020, at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion. It also won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. It had a one-week streaming limited release on December 4, 2020, and was distributed by Searchlight Pictures in selected IMAX theaters in the United States on January 29, 2021, and simultaneously in theaters, and streaming digitally on Hulu, on February 19, 2021.   The film was praised for its direction, screenplay, editing, cinematography, and performances, especially of McDormand. It was the third-highest rated film of 2020 on Metacritic, which found it to be the most frequently ranked by critics and publications as one of the best films of the year. At the 93rd Academy Awards, it won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress for McDormand, from a total of six nominations; Zhao became the first woman of color to win Best Director, while McDormand became the first person to win Academy Awards as both producer and performer for the same film. It also won Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director at the 78th Golden Globe Awards, four awards including Best Film at the 74th British Academy Film Awards, and four awards including Best Film at the 36th Independent Spirit Awards.