NOMADLAND, a unique fusion of road movie, Western, drama and documentary that chronicles a community of older Americans living off the grid after the global financial crisis, has completed its journey to Oscars glory.
The awarding of Hollywood’s top prize on Sunday to Chloe Zhao’s elegiac and experimental movie had been anticipated for months, as it swept festival prizes and guild awards in a year that saw many “larger” films delayed due to the pandemic.
But the best picture victory is a historic one nonetheless it is the first directed by a woman of colour, starring a cast of largely non-actors playing versions of themselves.
Montclair Native Scores Triple Oscar Victory For Nomandland
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ANALYSIS/OPINION:
I can understand why a handful of Republicans have criticized the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for working with the Biden administration on a handful of issues. But I think it is not a wise move for Republicans to go to war with one of the few institutions in D.C. that will support pro-business policies that will keep the American economy great and growing.
There is lingering anger for the Chamber endorsing nearly two dozen freshman House Democrats in the last election cycle. According to Politico, that decision to back Democrats, “represent(ed) a sharp departure for the traditionally conservative Chamber, which has spent over $100 million backing Republican candidates during the past decade, and it threatens to further complicate the party’s prospects in the November election while driving a split in the business community.”
The Eternals, as seen in the Marvel comics
Credit: Marvel
Chloé Zhao’s total domination of the awards season ended on Sunday as her film Nomadland won three of the grandest Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director and, for lead Frances McDormand, Best Actress. An eclectic throng stormed the stage as the Best Picture winner was announced – among them Zhao, McDormand, literally howling at the moon, and behind them, one of the film’s standout stars, the real-life van-dwelling nomad Swankie.
Swankie’s moment on stage, as well as her casting in the film, says much about Zhao, the Chinese writer-director who has quickly become one of the most distinctive and exhilarating voices in American cinema. Her films, tender, plaintive meditations on fringe communities, are imbued with authenticity, from the casts made up, chiefly, of non-actors like Swankie playing versions of themselves, to the subtle stories and naturalistic hues.
I wish to thank Dr. Katherine Trebeck and Dr. Dirk Philipsen for their response to our lead essay. It is a pleasure to discuss important ideas with scholars who are searching for the truth and human betterment. Trebeck and Philipsen question “the human ability to invent itself out of the basic laws of physics” and call for “A Wellbeing Economy [that] positions the economy in service of human flourishing and true freedom; less precariousness and more dignity; fewer dirty industries and more businesses who put their workers and communities front and center.”
I agree that humanity still faces many problems, but I ask, along with the British historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, “On what principle is it that with nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us.”[1] Below, I outline a number of ways in which the world has become a better place over the last few decades and propose that many people are already living in a Wellbeing Econ
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