The Golden Globes happened last week, and although they are not nearly as interesting when Ricky Gervais is not presenting, it was still a nice roundup of 2022 in terms of films and TV series. So, I prepared some main talking points after the event.
1. Interesting battle at the top – and what it means for the other awards
Remember, the Golden Globes award not only one Best Film but two: one for dramas and another for comedies/musicals. Sometimes this really works to showcase a bunch of great projects that might not be considered ‘serious enough’ by other award ceremonies. Other times, this leads to films like The Martian competing in the Best Comedy category. This year seems to have been one of the former cases, thankfully – with quite a few good picks on either side. Ultimately, Steven Spielberg’s The Fablemans and Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin were the two big winners. And this means that the ‘obvious’ losers were Tár and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Since the Oscars and the Golden Globes never really agree when it comes to the top film of the year, does it mean that the pair suddenly have increased chances? Or is it one of those years where they do make the same choice?
2. Familiar faces in the director and screenplay categories
The two big winners of the night also scored in the Director and Screenplay categories, respectively. Steven Spielberg got the better of Martin McDonagh, James Cameron and Baz Luhrmann in the directing category, winning with The Fablemans. However, McDonagh and The Banshees of Inisherin triumphed in the screenplay category, with the Irish filmmaker and playwright fending off competition from Todd Field, Sarah Polley, Steven Spielberg and Daniel Kwan to take home the award.
3. A nice bit of diversity when it comes to the acting nominees
The Globes had quite a nice mix of names for the various acting categories. Some more mainstream names prevailed in certain categories, such as Cate Blanchett for Best Actress – Drama, Colin Farrell in Best Actor – Comedy or Musical, Amanda Seyfried in Best Actress in a Limited Series and Kevin Costner for Best Actor in a TV Series. However, it also had some more outside shouts, such as Paul Walter Hauser as Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series, Ke Huy Quan as Best Supporting Actor, and Michelle Yeoh for Best Actress – Comedy or Musical.
4. COVID is still making its continued presence felt
The last edition of the Golden Globes that I vividly remember was the 2020 one, hosted by Ricky Gervais, and just in time, too – because we were all locked down about a month later. And, while the 2023 edition had no Covid or other issues threatening the organisation of an event, we have to deal with it still, albeit on a much smaller scale. Only a few days after presenting at the Golden Globes, nominee Jamie Lee Curtis tested positive for the coronavirus and thus making it likely that others who attended might share the same diagnosis.
5. Game of Thrones lives on in a different form
Game of Thrones won its fair share of Golden Globes at previous editions, until its rushed last couple of seasons, that is. And yet, George R.R. Martin was likely smiling on the night of the Globes because HBO’s prequel – House of the Dragon – was the big winner in the TV Serie category. I’m not really sure I would agree with this one personally, but this serves to show that the drama and brutality of Game of Thrones were, in the end, here to stay.
6. A few big names failing to pick up any awards
There are always a few films each year that can rack up quite a few nominations, only to fail to win any of them. Some of these are probably the biggest box office hits of the year: Avatar – The Way of Water, Top Gun: Maverick and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery among the films, and Better Call Saul, The Crown, Ozark and Andor among the series. On the other end, The Banshees of Inisherin, The Fablemans and Everything Everywhere All At Once were the films with the most awards, whereas Abbott Elementary won the most distinctions in the series category, despite not being nominated in any of the Best Series categories. And in the non-English language category, the highly praised Netflix remake of All Quiet on the Western Front was ultimately defeated by Argentina,1985.
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