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    Chloé Zhao, ‘Nomadland’ Director, Encounters a Backlash in China

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonGolden Globes: What HappenedBest and Worst MomentsWinners ListStream the WinnersRed Carpet ReviewAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyIn China, a Backlash Against the Chinese-Born Director of ‘Nomadland’Days after winning a Golden Globe for the film, Chloé Zhao was pilloried online for past remarks about China.Chloé Zhao, the director of “Nomadland,” at the drive-in premiere of the film last year in Pasadena, Calif., last year.Credit…Amy Sussman/Getty ImagesAmy Qin and March 6, 2021, 9:13 a.m. ETWhen Chloé Zhao won the Golden Globe for best director for her film “Nomadland” last Sunday, becoming the first Asian woman to receive that prize, Chinese state news outlets were jubilant. “The Pride of China!” read one headline, referring to Ms. Zhao, who was born in Beijing.But the mood quickly shifted. Chinese online sleuths dug up a 2013 interview with an American film magazine in which Ms. Zhao criticized her native country, calling it a place “where there are lies everywhere.” And they zeroed in on another, more recent interview with an Australian website in which Ms. Zhao, who received much of her education in the United States and now lives there, was quoted as saying: “The U.S. is now my country, ultimately.”The Australian site later added a note saying that it had misquoted Ms. Zhao, and that she had actually said “not my country.” But the damage was done.Chinese nationalists pounced online. What was her nationality, they wanted to know. Was she Chinese or American? Why should China celebrate her success if she’s American?Even a research center overseen by the government-affiliated Chinese Academy of Social Sciences weighed in. “Don’t be in such a hurry to praise Chloé Zhao,” read a social media post by the academy’s State Cultural Security and Ideology Building Center. “Look at her real attitude toward China.”On Friday, censors barged in. Searches in Chinese for the hashtags “#Nomadland” and “#NomadlandReleaseDate” were suddenly blocked on Weibo, a popular social media platform, and Chinese-language promotional material vanished as well. References to the film’s scheduled April 23 release in China were removed from prominent movie websites.It was not a complete blackout. Numerous stories about the movie were still online as of Saturday. And so far, there have been no reports that the film’s China release was in jeopardy. (China’s National Arthouse Alliance of Cinemas, which will oversee the theatrical release, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Searchlight Pictures, the Hollywood studio behind “Nomadland.”)But the online censorship was the latest reminder of the power of rising nationalist sentiment in China and the increasingly complex political minefield that companies must navigate there.Ms. Zhao, left, and the actress Frances McDormand, center, on the set of “Nomadland.”Credit…Courtesy Of Searchlight Pictures, via Associated PressFor years, the central government was the only major gatekeeper for films in China, determining which foreign movies got the official stamp of approval and, ultimately, access to the country’s booming box office. Now, more and more, China’s online patriots can also influence the fate of a film or a company.In many cases, winning over — or at least not offending — those patriots, sometimes derogatorily referred to as “little pinks,” has become another crucial consideration for companies seeking to enter the Chinese market.“There is much more space to punch figures like Chloé Zhao,” said Aynne Kokas, the author of “Hollywood Made in China.”The backlash against “Nomadland” was somewhat unexpected. Aside from Ms. Zhao, the film, which stars Frances McDormand in a sensitive portrait of the lives of itinerant Americans, has little if any connection to China. Though it is said to be a strong contender for the Academy Awards, it was not expected to bring in big Chinese audiences, given its limited theatrical release and its slow pacing.Awards Season More

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    Golden Globes: The Projectionist’s Takeaways

    Golden Globes: The Projectionist’s TakeawaysSacha Baron Cohen with his wife, Isla Fisher.Christopher Polk/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWant a catch-up on last night’s Golden Globes? It was a weird one — and considering how weird a typical Globes ceremony is, that’s saying something.Watch the standout moments → More

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    The Best and Worst of the Golden Globes

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonGolden Globes: What HappenedMoments and AnalysisGlobes WinnersGolden Globes ReviewAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Best and Worst of the Golden GlobesAmid deeply moving moments (like the speech by Chadwick Boseman’s widow), there were technical difficulties and the strange sight of long-distance hosts pretending to be on the same stage.March 1, 2021, 4:57 a.m. ET More

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    ‘Nomadland’ Review: The Unsettled Americans

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Pick‘Nomadland’ Review: The Unsettled AmericansFrances McDormand hits the road in Chloé Zhao’s intimate, expansive portrait of itinerant lives.The director Chloé Zhao narrates a scene from her movie featuring Frances McDormand and David Strathairn.CreditCredit…Searchlight PicturesFeb. 18, 2021NomadlandNYT Critic’s PickDirected by Chloé ZhaoDramaR1h 48mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.“People wish to be settled,” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote. “Only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.” This tension between stability and uprooting, between the illusory consolations of home and the risky lure of the open road, lies at the heart of “Nomadland,” Chloé Zhao’s expansive and intimate third feature.Based on Jessica Bruder’s lively, thoroughly reported book of the same name, “Nomadland” stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a fictional former resident of a formerly real place. The movie begins with the end of Empire, Nev., a company town that officially went out of existence in late 2010, after the local gypsum mine and the Sheetrock factory shut down. Fern, a widow, takes to the highway in a white van that she christens with the name Vanguard and customizes with a sleeping alcove, a cooking area and a storage space for the few keepsakes from her previous life. Fern and Vanguard join a rolling, dispersed tribe — a subculture and a literal movement of itinerant Americans and their vehicles, an unsettled nation within the boundaries of the U.S.A.Bruder’s book, unfolding in the wake of the Great Recession, emphasizes the economic upheaval and social dislocation that drive people like Fern — middle-aged and older; middle-class, more or less — out onto the road. Reeling from unemployment, broken marriages, lost pensions and collapsing home values, they work long hours in Amazon warehouses during the winter holidays and poorly paid stints at national parks in the summer months. They are footloose but also desperate, squeezed by rising inequality and a frayed safety net.[embedded content]Zhao smooths away some of this social criticism, focusing on the practical particulars of vagabond life and the personal qualities — resilience, solidarity, thrift — of its adherents. Except for McDormand and a few others, nearly all of the people in “Nomadland” are playing versions of themselves, having made the slightly magical transition from nonfiction page to nondocumentary screen. They include Bob Wells, the magnificently bearded mentor to legions of van dwellers, who summons them to an annual conclave — part cultural festival, part self-help seminar — in Quartzsite, Ariz.; Swankie, an intrepid kayaker, problem solver and nature lover; and Linda May, a central figure in Bruder’s book who nearly steals the movie as Fern’s best friend.Friendship and solitude are the poles between which Zhao’s film oscillates. It has a loose, episodic structure, and a mood of understated toughness that matches the ethos it explores. Zhao, who edited “Nomadland” in addition to writing and directing, sometimes lingers over majestic Western landscapes and sometimes cuts quickly from one detail to the next. As in “The Rider,” her 2018 film about a rodeo cowboy in South Dakota, she’s attentive to the interplay between human emotion and geography, to the way space, light and wind reveal character.Frances McDormand in Chloé Zhao’s film “Nomadland,” in which she shares the screen with several nonprofessional actors and real-life van travelers.Credit…Joshua Richards/Searchlight PicturesShe captures the busyness and the tedium of Fern’s days — long hours behind the wheel or at a job; disruptions caused by weather, interpersonal conflict or vehicle trouble — without rushing or dragging. “Nomadland” is patient, compassionate and open, motivated by an impulse to wander and observe rather than to judge or explain.Fern, we eventually discover, has a sister (Melissa Smith), who helps her out of a jam and praises her as “the bravest and most honest” member of their family. We believe those words because they also apply to McDormand, whose grit, empathy and discipline have never been so powerfully evident. I don’t mean to suggest that this is an awards-soliciting display of acting technique, a movie star’s bravura impersonation of an ordinary person. Quite the opposite. A lot of what McDormand does is listen, giving moral and emotional support to the nonprofessional actors as they tell their stories. Her skill and sensitivity help persuade you that what you are seeing isn’t just realistic, but true.Which brings me, somewhat reluctantly, to David Strathairn, who plays a fellow wanderer named Dave. He’s a soft-spoken, silver-haired fellow who catches Fern’s eye and gently tries to win her affection. His attempts to be helpful are clumsy and not always well judged — he offers her a bag of licorice sticks when what she wants is a pack of cigarettes — and although Fern likes him pretty well, her feelings are decidedly mixed.Mine too. Straitharn is a wonderful actor and an intriguing, nontoxic masculine presence, but the fact that you know that as soon as you see him is a bit of a problem. Our first glimpse of Dave, coming into focus behind a box of can openers at an impromptu swap meet, is close to a spoiler. The vast horizon of Fern’s story suddenly threatens to contract into a plot. He promises — or threatens — that a familiar narrative will overtake both Fern and the movie.Zhao wrote, directed and edited the film, sometimes lingering over majestic landscapes and sometimes employing quick cuts.Credit…Searchlight PicturesTo some degree, “Nomadland” wishes to be settled — wants not necessarily to domesticate its heroine, but at least to bend her journey into a more-or-less predictable arc. At the same time, and in a fine Emersonian spirit, the movie rebels against its own conventional impulses, gravitating toward an idea of experience that is more complicated, more open-ended, more contradictory than what most American movies are willing to permit.Zhao’s vision of the West includes breathtaking rock formations, ancient forests and wide desert vistas — and also iced-over parking lots, litter-strewn campsites and cavernous, soulless workplaces. Against the backdrop of the Badlands or an Amazon fulfillment center, an individual can shrink down to almost nothing. The nomad existence is at once an acknowledgment of human impermanence and a protest against it.Fern and her friends are united as much by the experience of loss as by the spirit of adventure. So many of the stories they share are tinged with grief. It’s hard to describe the mixture of sadness, wonder and gratitude that you feel in their company — in Fern’s company, and through her eyes and ears. It’s like discovering a new country, one you may want to visit more than once.NomadlandRated R. Living rough, and talking that way too. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes. In theaters and on Hulu. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    ‘Nomadland’ | Anatomy of a Scene

    Film directors walk viewers through one scene of their movies, showing the magic, motives and the mistakes from behind the camera.Film directors walk viewers through one scene of their movies, showing the magic, motives and the mistakes from behind the camera. More

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    The Gotham Awards Honor ‘Nomadland,’ as Best They Can

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe ProjectionistThe Gotham Awards Honor ‘Nomadland,’ as Best They CanIn a virtual ceremony, there were glitches and touching moments alike, including a speech from Chadwick Boseman’s widow.Frances McDormand in “Normadland.” The film won the top prize at the Gothams on Monday.Credit…Courtesy Of Searchlight Pictures/Searchlight Pictures, via Associated PressJan. 11, 2021All sorts of challenges arise when holding an awards show during a pandemic, and one of them, as proven by Monday night’s livestream of the 30th annual Gotham Awards, might be the technical difficulty of cueing up remote acceptance speeches.“Am I supposed to talk now?” asked a bewildered Radha Blank, upon winning a Gotham Award for her screenplay for “The 40-Year-Old Version.”The “One Night in Miami” actor Kingsley Ben-Adir looked similarly confused when the Gothams livestream cut to him sitting in a London hotel room, patiently awaiting any sort of direction. “I think I’m supposed to be speaking right now,” Ben-Adir said as he accepted a breakthrough-actor award, “but I hear so many people talking that I can’t really understand what’s going on.”Welcome to awards shows in the era of Zoom — more glitchy than glitzy, but still capable of celebration and the occasional moving moment. Perhaps the “Time” director Garrett Bradley put it best as she accepted her Gotham Award for best documentary: “If this were a real space, there’d be so many people up here with us,” Bradley said. “But we’re living in two dimensions.”The biggest winner of the night was “Nomadland,” a Frances McDormand road drama that many expect to be a top contender for the best-picture Oscar. The film, from the director Chloé Zhao, picked up both the best-feature and audience award; Zhao’s previous film, “The Rider,” triumphed at the Gothams two years ago.Though the Gothams are indie-leaning, their presence on the awards circuit is outsized: As the first significant ceremony of the season, they’ve often been a great barometer of buzz. What films have captured the attention of the East Coast crowd and may earn enough momentum to make it all the way to Oscar? You couldn’t help but overhear all sorts of lobbying whenever you pushed through a sea of formal wear on the way to the bar.The Gothams tried to recapture some of that magic this year with “virtual tables,” where a handful of curated watchers could gossip using video chat, if they so wished. (My table stayed mute.) But there is only so much you can do virtually to recreate a starry moment like last year’s late arrival of Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, who swanned to their table well after the show began and brought the proceedings to a near-halt. Or the time when I wished luck to “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” nominee Richard E. Grant and he said, “I read the predictions on IndieWire today. It’s not going to be me.”Still, even a virtual ceremony can produce something that feels gratifyingly real. The winners in the lead-acting categories, Nicole Beharie for “Miss Juneteenth” and Riz Ahmed for “Sound of Metal,” were both gobsmacked, and as Ahmed tried to get his footing, he summed up the moment poetically: “It feels like a very wobbly time,” he said. “But if we can all wobble together, maybe we might find ourselves dancing.”Ahmed took the prize over the late Chadwick Boseman, nominated for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” but Boseman was still honored with a special posthumous trophy. Accepting the award on his behalf was the actor’s widow, Simone Ledward Boseman.Calling the award “an acknowledgment not only of his profound work, but of his impact on this industry and this world,” his widow looked up, and a tear ran down her cheek. “Chad, thank you,” she said. “I love you, I am so proud of you. Keep shining your light on us.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More