20 Best Movie Performances Of 2020

David Strathairn will likely receive the second Oscar nomination of his storied career for his wonderfully understated turn in Chloé Zhao's stellar drama Nomadland.

Strathairn plays Dave, a fellow nomad who the film's wandering protagonist Fern (Frances McDormand) repeatedly encounters on her travels.

Far more than a mere love interest character, there's a refreshingly unfussy, laid-back quality to the way that Dave is presented to the audience - and to Strathairn's performance.

It isn't a showy, awards-baiting performance in the slightest, but the actor brings a tremendous amount of warmth to a role which could easily be throwaway in a lesser movie, lithely sidestepping cliches as he does so.

Nomadland is absolutely McDormand's film through and through, but Strathairn's complimentary work adds even more humanity to Zhao's excellent character study.