From Nomadland to Minari, an America in transition shown in the architecture of Oscars best picture nominees
- All eight films nominated for best picture Oscar have an unsettled feeling, in their narrative and the architecture of the buildings we see
- From the motor home in Sound of Metal to the parents’ house in Promising Young Woman, a sense of insecurity pervades
The first time you see Jacob and Monica’s new home in Minari, it’s from the vantage point of a moving car. Images of bucolic landscape hugging a country lane give way to an open field. In the middle of that isolated field sits the couple’s future residence.
The camera settles on a putty-coloured mobile home. Its lack of skirt siding reveals how it was towed into place. “Look, wheels!” the kids exclaim as Monica, their mother, portrayed by Han ye-ri, looks on in horror.
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Inside, she sees frayed wallpaper and wood panelling, with drop ceilings covered in industrial acoustic tile. It is less a home than a basic shelter.
A heavy storm reveals many leaks as a television newsreader warns of possible tornadoes. Already vulnerable, the family is now dangerously exposed.
In a time turned upside down by Covid-19, it seems appropriate that the eight pictures nominated for this year’s Academy Awards all channel a feeling of the unsettled – in their narratives, but also in the architecture they depict.
In these films, the aspirational, single family dwelling of the mid-20th century seems but a hazy dream. Instead, characters carve out their existence in the spaces in-between: vans, trailers, guest rooms and the ramshackle houses shared by activists fighting for a common cause.