Chloé Zhaos Nomadland has won best picture at a singular, sometimes bizarre, Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. A strong favourite since it took top prizes at the Venice and Toronto film festivals over six months ago, the poetic drama stars Frances McDormand as a sexagenarian woman travelling the American west in the years after the 2008 crash.
Zhao, a Chinese-American, became the second woman and the first woman of colour to win best director at the Oscars. I have always found goodness in the people I met everywhere I went in the world, Zhao said from the podium. This is for everyone who has the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves and to hold on to the goodness in each other no matter how difficult it is to do that.
Linda May and Swankie, two of the contemporary nomads described in Jessica Bruders non-fiction source book, who play themselves in the film, accompanied the director up the red carpet.
Breaking with tradition, the lead acting awards were announced after the best picture prize. In a significant surprise, Anthony Hopkins won best actor for playing a man with dementia in Florian Zellers The Father.
It was expected that Chadwick Boseman, who died last August, would take the prize posthumously for his performance in Ma Raineys Black Bottom. Indeed, some suspected the award had been moved to the end of the ceremony to allow an emotional celebration of Bosemans life.
Hopkins, who was present neither in person nor on camera, becomes, at 83, the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar. His odds were as long as 7/1 with bookmakers a few days before the ceremony.
Daniel Kaluuya, winner of the award for best actor in a supporting role for Judas and the Black Messia. Photograph: EPA/Chris Pizzello
Anthony Hopkins became the oldest actor to win an Oscar, for his role in The Father. Photograph: Valerie macon / AFP)
Best actress had been fiercely fought throughout awards season. McDormand ended up beating out stout competition from the likes of Viola Davis and Carey Mulligan to take the prize for Nomadland. She thus becomes just the second person to win best actress on three occasions. Only Katharine Hepburn, who took four prizes, has won more.
McDormand, who will shortly be seen opposite Denzel Washington in a film of Macbeth, quoted the play in her acceptance speech. I have no words. My voice is in my sword, she said. We know the sword is our work. And I like work. Thanks for knowing that, and thanks for this.
Taking three Oscars in total, Nomadland topped the chart in an evening that spread the wealth.
Daniel Kaluuya was never likely to lose in best supporting actor for his bravura turn as black radical Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah and, sure enough, the statuette came his way.
The Londoner, always a riot, give one of the liveliest speech of the evening. Thank you to my mum, he said. You gave me your factory settings so I can stand at my fullest height. Thank you to everyone I love from London town to Kampala. Mum, watching from England, was initially overwhelmed and then visibly agitated as the speech got a tad racy.
The unusually long awards season has been greatly brightened by the presence of veteran Korean actor Yuh Jung Youn. To nobodys surprise, she won best supporting actress for her turn as an eccentric granny in Minari and, as she had done at Bafta and elsewhere, delivered a delightfully eccentric speech.
Tonight I maybe had just a little bit of luck. I am luckier than you, she said to fellow nominees such as Glenn Close. Also maybe its American hospitality for a Korean actor. Id like to thank my two boys who make me go out and work. This is the result because mommy works so hard.
Yuh-Jung Youn, winner of best actress in a supporting role for Minari. Photograph: Chris Pizzello-Pool/Getty Images
Tomm Moore and Ross Stewarts Wolfwalkers, produced by Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, failed to triumph in the best animated feature category. The Irish studios fourth feature had done well with critics groups, but couldnt get past the behemoth that was Pixars Soul. Moore, Stewart and his team gathered for a live relay in front of Kilkenny Castle (Kilkenny, Ireland as presenter Reese Witherspoon had it), but had to settle for polite clapping rather than an acceptance speech.
This years ceremony, like so many other awards bashes in the era of Covid, had to adapt radically, but the producers still managed to stage something like a traditional physical event. To maintain social distancing, the show was split between the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and Union Station in the oldest quarter of Los Angeles.
Those nominees able to make it to Southern California were at the railroad terminus with the presenters. A few other special interludes happened at the theatre on Hollywood and Highland. Meanwhile, overseas nominees gathered in hubs such as the British Film Institutes venue at Londons Southbank. The intimate Union Station setting, where most of the event took place, gave a flavour of vintage LA and of the Oscars as they were in the days before television.
The Academy Awards will, no doubt, return to a larger frame as soon as possible, but this years variations, partly devised by director Steven Soderbergh, will surely be adjudged a qualified success. Even if the ending didnt go as expected.
Best PictureThe FatherJudas and the Black MessiahMankMinariNomadland (WINNER) Promising Young WomanSound of MetalThe Trial of the Chicago 7?
Best DirectorThomas Vinterberg (Another Round)David Fincher (Mank)Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) WINNER Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Best ActorRiz Ahmed (Sound of MetalChadwick Boseman (Ma Raineys Black Bottom)Anthony Hopkins (The Father) WINNER Gary Oldman (Mank)Steven Yeun (Minari)
Best ActressViola Davis (Ma Raineys Black Bottom)Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)Frances McDormand (Nomadland) WINNERCarey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)
Best Supporting ActressMaria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)Olivia Colman (The Father)Amanda Seyfried (Mank)Youn Yuh-jung (Minari) WINNER
Best Adapted Screenplay Sacha Baron Cohen and Co-Writers (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton (The Father) WINNERChloe Zhao (Nomadland)Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami)Ramin Bahrani (The White Tiger)
Best Original ScreenplayWill Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas, and Kenny Lucas (Judas and the Black Messiah)Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) WINNERDerek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder, Darius Marder (Sound of Metal)Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Best Animated FeatureOnwardOver the MoonShaun the Sheep Movie: FarmageddonSoul (WINNER)Wolfwalkers
Best International Feature FilmAnother Round (WINNER)Better DaysCollectiveThe Man Who Sold His SkinQuo Vadis, Aida?
Best DocumentaryCollectiveCrip CampThe Mole AgentMy Octopus Teacher (WINNER)Time
Best CinematographySean Bobbitt (Judas and the Black Messiah)Erik Messerschmidt (Mank) WINNERDariusz Wolski (News of the World)Joshua James Richards (Nomadland)Phedon Papamichael (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Best Costume DesignEmmaMa Raineys Black Bottom (WINNER)MankMulanPinocchio
Best Film EditingThe FatherNomadlandPromising Young WomanSound of Metal (WINNER)The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Makeup and HairstylingEmmaHillbilly ElegyMa Raineys Black Bottom (WINNER)MankPinocchio
Best Original ScoreDa 5 BloodsMankMinariNews of the WorldSoul (WINNER)
Best Original SongFight For You from Judas and the Black Messiah (WINNER)Hear My Voice from The Trial of the Chicago 7Husavik from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Sagalo Sì (Seen) from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)Speak Now from One Night in Miami
Best Production DesignThe FatherMa Raineys Black BottomMank (WINNER)News of the WorldTenet
Best SoundGreyhoundMankNews of the WorldSoulSound of Metal (WINNER)
Best Visual EffectsLove and MonstersThe Midnight SkyMulanThe One and Only IvanTenet (WINNER)
Best Documentary (Short Subject)Colette (WINNER)A Concerto Is a ConversationDo Not SplitHunger WardA Love Song for Latasha
Best Short Film (Animated)BurrowGenius LociIf Anything Happens I Love You (WINNER)OperaYes-People
Best Short Film (Live Action)Feeling ThroughThe Letter RoomThe PresentTwo Distant Strangers (WINNER)White Eye
