September 12, 2020

Nomadland is the first consensus favourite from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The hybrid drama stars two-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand as Fern, a woman living a nomadic lifestyle as she traverses America in search for seasonal work. Nomadland adapts Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book of the same name and features many of the nomadic workers who inspired it acting alongside McDormand to tell their story.

The new drama from Chloé Zhao (The Rider) premiered at TIFF last night with same-day screenings at the Venice Film Festival and another in collaboration with the Telluride Film Festival. The simultaneous screenings set the Twitterverse on fire. Critics particularly praised McDormand’s performance and Zhao’s direction with few, if any, pundits finding something to fault.

Here is what the TFCA members are saying about Nomadland:

NOMADLAND: Frances McDormand, holy hell. A gut-punch of a performance in a film that just might be as good as the entire film industry had hoped for. Ultimately about the power, and pain, of “having nothing in your way.” And all my fellow Stratharin stans, this is for us. #TIFF20

— Barry Hertz (@HertzBarry) September 11, 2020

Nomadland is everything I hoped it would be. Couldn't help thinking about early Malick and Reichardt. #TIFF20

— Radheyan Simonpillai (@JustSayRad) September 11, 2020

NOMADLAND: Bound for glory. Chloé Zhao dramatizes Jessica Bruder's urgent reportage about rootless Americans for an awards season stunner. Frances McDormand's wanderer Fern balances grief and resiliency. A role and story drawn from life, it feels like classic fiction. #TIFF20 pic.twitter.com/kA4MTeeE6Q

— Peter Howell (@peterhowellfilm) September 11, 2020

NOMADLAND: Frances McDormand and Chloé Zhao find each other on the road. Simple, elegant, beautiful. #TIFF20

— Norm Wilner (@normwilner) September 12, 2020

I had obscenely high expectations for NOMADLAND and it exceed them. Zhao's poetry of life hybrid format has never worked better and Frances McDormand's reaction shots are the secret ingredient. A film of and for the moment. 💯 #tiff20

— Pat Mullen (@cinemablogrpher) September 12, 2020

Nomadland @TIFF_NET Not one false note.

— Johanna Schneller (@JoSchneller) September 12, 2020

Our team at Original-CIn are expressing collective wow-emotions. https://t.co/GvxXo4aS0s

— Liam Lacey (@liamlacey) September 12, 2020

NOMADLAND – Chloé Zhao's elegiac journey through a broken America, anchored by yet another subtle and specific performance by Frances McDormand, may prove to be the biggest hit out of #tiff20. Gently political, effortlessly poetic, its ambling, rambling nature will please many.

— Jason Gorber – #tiff20 adjacent (@filmfest_ca) September 12, 2020

Writer/director Chloe Zhao just ripped my heart out with the terrific Nomadland. And the performance by Frances McDormand is sublime. #TIFF2020 @nomadlandfilm

— karen gordon (@kargor) September 12, 2020

Is #FrancesMcDormand The US' greatest living actor? #Nomadland #TIFF20 pic.twitter.com/upOBb3N3yP

— Anne Brodie (@annebrodie) September 12, 2020

In Summary…

So yeah, NOMADLAND is as amazing as everyone is saying. A perfect film for this moment. Beautifully directed. And McDormand deserves a third Oscar. #tiff20

— Glenn Six Feet Away Sumi (@glennsumi) September 12, 2020

Check out this week’s dispatch of TFCA coverage for more TIFF tips, previews, and interviews.

TIFF runs Sept. 9-19, 2020. Nomadland opens this December.