Nomadland flies towards the Oscars on Sunday night but as often on the eve potential surprises crowd: at the end of an awards season different from all the others, between canceled festivals and ceremonies via Zoom, the verdict of the critics is unanimous, the film Leone Gold in Venice by Chloe Zhao will triumph in the most prestigious category, Best Picture, unless ... the night of the stars does not belong to "Minari" by Korean-American Lee Isaac Chung, or "A Promising Woman" by Emerald Ferrell. Both are also candidates for directing, screenwriting, editing and at least one cast member. Zhao is also favored as best director (making history as the first non-white woman and second woman ever after Katheryn Bigelow in 2010 for "Hurt Locker"), but she is notsaid the Chinese girl can make poker with the other two nominations - best screenplay and best editing - which would put her on a par with Walt Disney for the individual Oscar record in a single year: as a critic of "Variety" wrote, the jurors today "prefer to distribute their votes around".
Nomadland, about the nomadic life of retired elderly people in the West of the United States, comes to the Oscars in the wake of other awards including the Golden Globes and, most recently, the British Bafta and Spirit for independent cinema. And it is precisely from the Spirit and the Bafta that there are signs that the race of actors and actresses remains open: Chadwick Boseman, the star of "Black Panther" who died of cancer last August at the age of 43, was so far taken for granted for the last one, tormented performance in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", while Spirit awarded the British Riz Ahmed (first Muslim candidate for an Oscar) for the role of the drummer who loses his hearing in "Sound of Metal", and the tribute of the Bafta went to Anthony Hopkins for "The Father": it would be the second statuette for the83-year-old actor of "Silence of the Lambs". Spirit have reopened the games also for the best actress: Carey Mulligan of "A promising woman" is back on track in a three-way race against Frances McDormand of "Nomadland" and Viola Davis "Ma Rainey's" who leaves Vanessa Kirby behind ( "Pieces of a Woman") and Andra Day ("Billie Holiday"). If so far Yuh-Jung Youn of "Minari" seemed confident as best supporting actress, "Variety" recorded the possibility of a comeback of Olivia Colman ("The Father") while the male counterpart would have no story: Daniel Kaluuya for "Judas and the Black Messiah" he will take home the statuette by beating, among others, his co-star LaKeith Stanfield.The Oscars will air Sunday from Union Station in Los Angeles, with the Dolby Theater used for individual appearances during the pre-show including those of the nominees for the best original song: Laura Pausini is in the running for "Io Si" from "La Life in front of you "by Edoardo Ponti. There is another Italy competing on Sunday, including Pinocchio by Matteo Garrone for costumes and make-up, while the music of Ludovico Einaudi (also used by Zhao for "Nomadland") is the background for "The Father" and Monica Bellucci is in the cast of "The Man Who Sold His Skin" by Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania, entered in the five international films with "Quo vadis, Aida?", "Collective" (also nominated for best documentary against "My friend under the sea" ), "Another Round "by Thomas Vinterberg (the favorite) and" Better Days ".