The silent wins of the Golden Globes

by Nathaniel R

No film truly dominated with Power of the Dog winning 3, and West Side Story 2

The Golden Globe ceremony did not air this year for only the second time in our lifetimes here at TFE. Some of you may recall the ceremony was cancelled once before due to the writers strike and the names were merely read out on television in a glorified press conference. This time, even less hoopla, given Hollywood turning their backs on the group and NBC refusing to telecast them this year. Neverthless they went ahead with their normal rounds of choosing nominees and winners. It's tough to expect that these prizes will mean anything more than, say, any winner lineup from a regional critics group, this year. Televised awards, with their red carpets and celebrity speeches and celebratory atmosphere are the only awards that receive enough mainstream attention to noticeably and consistently influence the Oscars, which always close "awards season".

Winners list and more commentary after the jump...

Had the Golden Globes chose several surprise winners this year (they chose only one in Nicole Kidman over Kristen Stewart for Best Actress in a Drama) we might have thought there would be a chance for them to have a noticeable affect somehow, even if it was in a "negative" way. Had they gone their own way and Oscars not embraced those choices, surely the media (who love to kick things when they're down) would have claimed a sort of reverse effect... "Nobody wants to be seen copying the Globes this year!" or some such. But since the Globes chose (mostly) presumed and critically supported frontrunners and mostly nominated and gave wins to the same films and performances that the bulk of critics groups have been choosing, it's safe to say there will be no after-effects. The interesting drama will be if any of the winners choose to acknowledge their wins. 

FILM PRIZES

BEST PICTURE, DRAMA 

• Belfast
• CODA
• Dune
• King Richard
• Power of the Dog  ★

Power of the Dog has won the bulk of prizes to date so this is par for the course. 

BEST PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• Cyrano
• Don't Look Up
• Licorice Pizza
• tick, tick...BOOM!
• West Side Story ★

Since the Globes are the only major organization that separates musicals and comedies from dramas, the West Side Story win is new though hardly unexpected. It's surely locked up for multiple Oscar nominations.

BEST DIRECTOR 

• Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
• Jane Campion, Power of the Dog ★
• Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lost Daughter
• Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
• Denis Villeneuve, Dune

Campion continues her near unanimous dominance. It's worth noting here that if she wins the Oscar she would be only the third female director to do so but the Globes have a better track record with female directors as we've previously stated.

Fact: The Globes beat the Oscars to honoring a female director by a remarkable 26 years! Sadly the Oscar voters got kind of snobby and patriarchal about Barbra's historic multi-tasking in Yentl and denied her all four Oscar nods she was eligible for (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Actress). 

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA

• Jessica Chastain, Eyes of Tammy Faye
• Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
• Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos ★
• Lady Gaga, House of Gucci
• Kristen Stewart, Spencer 

This is the only win that might have made a difference in a "normal" year since Nicole Kidman is an extremely famous actress and she beat the presumed frontrunner, Kristen Stewart. The speech would have been widely discusssed the next day in the media. 

BEST ACTRESS, MUSICAL/COMEDY 

• Marion Cotillard, Annette
• Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
• Jennifer Lawrence, Don't Look Up
• Emma Stone, Cruella
• Rachel Zegler, West Side Story ★

This win would have been a major boost to Zegler's campaign (again in a normal year) since the race is still maybe tight in Best Actress... though it's hard to know who is most vulnerable of the presumed leaders and who is strongest of the presumed spoilers (aka tier 1 and tier 2 on the Oscar charts) 

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA

• Mahershala Ali, Swan Song
• Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
• Benedict Cumberbatch, Power of the Dog
• Will Smith, King Richard. ★
• Denzel Washington, Tragedy of Macbeth

We knew that when the televised awards began Will Smith might come roaring in (Leading the non televised precursors has never been any kind of Oscar "winnning" guarantee though it undoubtedly helps to secure in the effort to procure an Oscar nomination.

BEST ACTOR, MUSICAL/COMEDY

• Leonardo DiCaprio, Don't Look Up
• Peter Dinklage, Cyrano
• Andrew Garfield, tick tick...BOOM! ★
• Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza
• Anthony Ramos, In the Heights 

Since people are beginning to feel that Best Actor is competitive between Smith, Cumberbatch, and Garfield, this was an obvious win.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS 

• Caitriona Balfe, Belfast
• Ariana DeBose, West Side Story ★
• Kirsten Dunst, Power of the Dog
• Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
• Ruth Negga, Passing

Again a great speech at the Globes could have sealed a history-repeats itself Oscar win. She still could win of course but the Globe won't help.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Ben Affleck, Tender Bar
• Jamie Dornan, Belfast
• Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
• Troy Kotsur, CODA
• Kodi Smit-McPhee, Power of the Dog ★

Smit-McPhee has proved a surprisingly sturdy awards magnet so far given his age (25)

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
• Kenneth Branagh, Belfast ★
• Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
• Adam McKay, Don't Look Up
• Aaron Sorkin, Being the Ricardos 

An Oscar for Branagh for Belfast has felt likely for a long time. The question is can he mantain the early momentum given that Licorice Pizza and Don't Look Up opened after it and have been very noisy competitors. (Note: Belfast won't be competing with Power of the Dog in Oscar's writing categories, since Oscar splits its screenplay prizes) have come on 

BEST PICTURE, ANIMATED 

• Encanto ★
• Flee
• Luca
• My Sunny Maad
• Raya and the Last Dragon

Critics have really rallied for The Mitchells Vs the Machines which was the surprising "snub" at the Globes. But what will Oscar love? It feels up in the air to us.

BEST PICTURE, NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• Compartment No 6 (Finland)
• Drive My Car (Japan) ★
• Hand of God (Italy)
• A Hero (Iran)
• Parallel Mothers (Spain)

Drive My Car just keeps rising in terms of awardability. This has been a huge success for tiny distributor Janus Films. Even with pandemic box office woes its earned over $300,000 at US arthouse theaters. For comparisons sake it's earned more than other subtitled features with more famous directors and more well funded distributors like  Benedetta (IFC Films), Escape from Mogadishu (Well Go), I'm Your Man (Bleecker Street), and Parallel Mothers (SPC) though it should be noted that the latter has been out a shorter period of time and generally Almodóvar films earn a lot more than it has thus far; The year's biggest foreign critical darlings that were also hits in terms of US arthouse box office were Lamb (NEON) with $2.6 million and Titane (NEON) $1.4 million.

BEST SCORE

• Alexandre Desplat, French Dispatch
• Germaine Franco, Encanto
• Jonny Greenwood, Power of the Dog
• Alberto Iglesias, Parallel Mothers
• Hans Zimmer, Dune ★

BEST SONG 

• "Down to Joy" Belfast
• "Dos Oruguitas" Encanto
• "Be Alive" King Richard
• "Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)" Respect
• "No Time To Die" No Time To Die ★

It's interesting that James Bond songs usually couldn't get arrest with Oscar prior to Skyfall but they've been awards magnets ever since. This is the presumed frontrunner for the Oscar, too.

TELEVISION PRIZES

The Globes "precursor" status with television has always been since they don't coincide with the Emmy year at all. So you usually get a mix of last season's Emmy favourites and things that continue to gain popularity after the Emmys or come out after the Emmys and are eligible for the Globes first. Such is the case again this year. 

DRAMA SERIES

• Lupin (Netflix)
• The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
• Pose (FX)
• Squid Game (Netflix)
• Succession (HBOMax) ★

DRAMA ACTRESS

• Uzo Aduba, In Treatment
• Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
• Christine Baranski, The Good Fight
• Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale
• Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Pose ★

DRAMA ACTOR

• Brian Cox, Succession
• Lee Jung-Jae, Squid Game
• Billy Porter, Pose
• Jeremy Strong, Succession ★
• Omar Sy, Lupin

COMEDY SERIES

• The Great (Hulu)
• Hacks (HBOMax) ★
• Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
• Reservation Dogs (FX)
• Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

COMEDY ACTRESS

• Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
• Elle Fanning, The Great
• Issa Rae, Insecure
• Tracee Ellis Ross, Black•ish
• Jean Smart, Hacks ★

COMEDY ACTOR

• Anthony Anderson, Black•ish
• Nicholas Hoult, The Great
• Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building
• Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building
• Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso ★

LIMITED SERIES, ANTHONY SERIES, OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

• Dopesick (Hulu)
• Impeachman: American Crime Story (FX)
• Maid (Netflix)
• Mare of Easttown (HBO)
• Underground Railroad (Amazon) ★

LIMITED SERIES ACTRESS

• Jessica Chastain, Scenes from a Marriage
• Cynthia Erivo, Genius: Aretha
• Elizabeth Olsen, Wandavision
• Margaret Qualley, Maid
• Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown ★

LIMITED SERIES ACTOR

• Paul Bettany, Wandavision
• Oscar isaac, Scenes from a Marriage
• Michael Keaton, Dopesick ★
• Ewan McGregor, Halston
• Tahar Rahim, The Serpent

SUPPORTING ACTRESS (ANY TELEVISION)

• Jennifer Coolidge, White Lotus
• Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick
• Andie MacDowell, Maid
• Sarah Snook, Succession ★
• Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso

SUPPORTING ACTOR (ANY TELEVISION)

• Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
• Kieran Culkin, Succession
• Mark Duplass, The Morning Show
• Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso
• O Yeong-Su, Squid Game ★

Comments

[eurocheese]

I would have loved to see Kidman and Campion react to each other's wins. *sigh* Kidman's win is the biggest upset of the night, and it does make me wonder if Stewart might be vulnerable. I loved Spencer, but a nomination might help Stewart's career more than a win (as we often see) and far be it from me to deny one of my favorite living actresses a second Oscar, even if her great Being the Ricardos turn was just shy of her top tier work for me.

Smith vs. Cumberbatch vs. Garfield may stay heated until Oscar night. Loved all three performances. Still thinking Dinklage gets the fourth slot and then we may see a surprise for the fifth. (If Collins Jr gets the SAG nod, it's him.)

[Frank Zappa]

Still thinking Denzel gets the fourth slot.

Supporting Actress (film) will be heart wrenching, no matter who wins.

[Jésus Alonso]

Irony being, I think the final winner at Oscar is going to be Cruz. Kidman's film already peaked, Stewart couldn't win here, and Cruz got the key NSFC and LAFCA... if she gets SAG and BAFTA nominations, she is locked for Oscar nomination, and in that open field Stewart vs Kidman vs Cruz, I think she wins, in an interesting change of tide in the last minute. The late opening of Parallel Mothers may help her to peak in the right time.

[Gallavich]

Is Will Smith in King Richard good? I'm not a great fan neither of biopics neither of Smith, but usually when he catches a good role he delivers it

[Fadhil]

I LIVE FOR THE NICOLE KIDMAN WIN!!!
Proof these haters wrong, bitch!
Second Oscar we are coming lmao

Still not buying that Anita is the only good role for Latinas out there that they had the gumption to award it twice
This is not the Tonys after all

[Tony L]

First of all - in a perfect world Clifton Collins Jr and Simon Rex would be battling right now for front runner status. Ok now,

So say Denzel is the fourth. Now how about this for the fifth spot - Hidetoshi Nishijima for Drive My Car. Hmmmm.

So going with Jesus Alonso saying Cruz for Actress, let Nishijima for Actor and have TWO foreign performances win!!

Because honestly this year with what has been shown as the front runners for these two categories, I’m not that impressed.

Should be winners for me:
Simon Rex - Red Rocket
Penelope Cruz - Parallel Mother’s
Jason Isaacs - Mass
Ann Dowd - Mass

Done and done :)

[Glenn Dunks]

I had figured Kidman would win the GG and the SAG. It makes more sense than Stewart or Chastain or Gaga, although Colman didn't win the SAG for THE FAVOURITE and she is clearly beloved by actors.... hmmm...

[Mr Ripley79]

I am shocked Kidman won as i'm afraid to say I think she isn't very good in the film.

[Peggy Sue]

Glad they didn't cancel the whole thing. All the big names are thanking their Globes online so I guess they're not dead. Sorry Clayton Davis!

[StephenM]

I hope the Globes are back next year! I would've loved to see the wins for Kidman, Winslet, Campion, Smit-McPhee, Zegler.....

[DK]

I don’t know, I think the news of who won the Globes still matters to Hollywood.

The recent “HFPA is dead to us” stories quoting PR professionals and industry types…obviously that’s what they’re supposed to say on the record. The outrage feels a bit hollow and limited to really intense data points, ScarJo, Tom Cruise…is Nicole not thrilled to add a new Globe to her collection? Will her peers not congratulate her privately, or take note of this? I’m not defending HFPA but Hollywood always loved that flawed organization and knew all about the corruption, sleaziness. It’s just in fashion not to say so this year. If anything, the viewing public is the big loser this year since we’ve been cut out of the celebration.

Of course the speeches help but this HFPA press release is the biggest deal so far, perhaps just as impactful than the eventual BFCA show, but not more than SAG. As always BAFTA falls too late to be more than a signal to read.

I just think you’d see many more stars returning their awards to the HFPA if the Globes were truly dead/irrelevant. As you note this is just like the writers’ strike year, which did give Cotillard the first major boost for the win—being speech-less didn’t slow her!

[chasm301]

Wish these winners (especially Ariana and Rachel) had their moment in the sun to celebrate this. Anyway, the deranged tweets were the best part of last night - still laughing over "if laughter is the best medicine, West Side Story is the cure for what ails you."

[jules]

I'm just happy to see someone other than Stewart win Actress.

[Sad Man]

I'm so happy Kidman won. She's great in the movie and I'm SO happy Stewart didn't win. She's terrible and Spencer is hilariously bad. Honestly, I'll take anyone over Stewart.

[whunk (he/him)]

I continue to be confused by how much love Power of the Dog is getting and going to get. But especially for Smit-McPhee, whose highly adequate performance should not be running away with everything like this.

[Carlos]

Is Kidman's win THAT big an upset? Like Nathaniel says, she's superfamous... and she's really good (upsetting some unwitting nay-sayers' expectations) playing a real character in a movie abt the business. Add to that the fact that she's one of the best of her generation and, after a long time of being underappreciated, has been gaining a lot of momentum in recent years and I could easily she her winning her second Oscar in a couple of months! KStew's still very young so her first nom (for a relatively artsy, less digestible movie) would be enough of a reward.

[Lucky]

Smit-McPhee to me makes a lot of sense as a winner. His character is super sympathetic and crucial to the twisty ending, which may be the best part of the Best Picture frontrunner. Besides, who else could win? Considering the options, I don't see Hinds or Dornan. Only Kotsur could upset.

[Peggy Sue]

Lucky - Also, he's a clear case of category fraud. That always helps in the supporting category.

[Carlos]

The category fraud conversation on TPOTD is quite interesting... one could argue that Cumberbatch is the absolute protagonist of the movie, while Dunst is the co-lead of the 1st half of the movie and Smit-McPhee the co-lead of the 2nd half. Debatable, but I'm fine with their supporting placements.

[Joe G.]

I'm happy that Kidman won. She's doing great work in an Academy friendly film. As an actress, she' has made a career of giving great performances in films that the academy won't love. This is a win that makes sense, and one that seems destined to do well at the televised award shows. Hopefully, she'll secure a SAG and Oscar nomination for her performance.

These wins seem great, and it's a real lost not to have the golden globes. I get why people turned their back on them, but NBCs decision not to air them still feels really hasty.

[StephenM]

I definitely feel Dunst and Smit-McPhee are perfectly placed in Supporting. Watching the film, it never occurred to me that they'd be placed in Lead.

[Drew]

I am so happy Nicole won; at least she won something for this good performance. I read a lot of reviews that pan the movie and her performance and I still don't get it. Well, the movie, I kinda get it but still, it doesn't deserve the critical beating that it got; it's not bad, it's average at best.

Nicole's pan though, I don't understand. I read her pan from NY Times and I thought I saw different performance. She is great despite everything that going against her in that movie. People complain that she doesn't look like Lucille Ball, as if most people know how Lucille Ball is in real life. It's not top tier Kidman's performance but it's a good performance; how she uses her voice differentiating Lucille and Lucy is incredible; even her body language in some scenes are amazing.

Regardless if she win the Oscar or not, it's good at least someone acknowledge the difficulty of this performance. Critics and film twitter always complain when mimicry like Rami Malek won the Oscar but they also reject when unique interpretation is applied when portraying a real life figure.

I have to admit, Kristen Stewart performance left me cold and I prefer Kidman, Chastain, Cruz and Colman performances. However, I know I am in minority here and I am fine if she win the Oscar; maybe there is something in her performance that I will never get. However, dismissing Kidman's performance as failed Oscar bait or TV level performance is totally unfair.

[NATHANIEL R]

Drew -- yeah, i dont understand the pans of her performance either. I mean it mgiht not be in her top tier of performances but most actors WISH their top tier were as transcendent as Kidmans so it's hardly fair to pretend her second tier isn't on the level of most people's top tiers, you know?

Carlos -- i am fine with the category placements, too. Dunst, Plemmons, and Smit-McPhee all have co-lead moments but other sections of the movie where they're totally absent or recessive. Cumberbatch is the only start to finish lead.

DK -- i agree. There's a lot of virtue signalling that goes on in Hollywood but they were kissing the Globes ass every chance they got until it was suddenly unfashionable to do so (even though everyone always knew the Globes had ethics problems) Tom Cruise returning his Globes is the stupidest of all the virtue signalling though. That man has a glass house so he shouldn't be throwing stones.

[Rob]

Re: Power of the Dog perfs: I agree with Nathaniel that Dunst, Plemmons, & Smit-McPhee can comfortably fit into supporting categories. Rampant category fraud is a def problem but I just don't see the issue here, esp with Plemmons.

[César Gaytán]

@Fadhil. If you want to watch a juicy "latina role" you can easily watch more latin movies.

Hollywood is so egocentric that thinks what happen there is the only thing that exists and you can't blame them because that is their business but the audience repeating what they say as an statement is simply ridículous.

[Michael R]

Nathaniel: what are your thoughts on Being the Ricardos?

[MM]

"Being the Ricardos" is NOT A GOOD MOVIE. Why are people telling themselves it is? Nicole doesn't deserve an award for this performance...no one does.