Related Posts
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Unlike most other awards ceremonies, the Golden Globe Awards are sometimes difficult to judge as indicators of how the remainder of the film award season will play out, in large part because it offers two Best Picture prizes instead of only one. Each year, organizers of the Golden Globes separate the films submitted for awards recognition into two different categories: Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Each year, both of these prizes are given out, and while each win can create an idea as to which films may become potential frontrunners for equivalent prizes at future awards ceremonies – the Academy Awards being the most prominent of the bunch – rarely do they serve as fully accurate predictors, especially when a film that doesn’t win the Golden Globe ends up winning the Oscar (an occurrence that has taken place quite frequently in modern history). Regardless of this situation, many continue to turn their attention towards the Golden Globes each year to see which films supposedly have the best chance of winning bigger and better prizes later on in the awards season. This year’s ceremony, held on Sunday, January 5th, does not appear to be any different, and with both of the Best Picture winners managing to pick up more than one additional award by the end of the evening, one might be inclined to believe that their respective chances of winning at the upcoming Oscars (as well as any other major ceremony set to take place before it) are larger than initially assumed.
In terms of overall wins, Jacques Audiard’s musical crime comedy “Emilia Perez” was the ultimate victor with a total of four awards earned by the end of the evening; given that it had received more nominations than any other film going into the ceremony – ten to be exact (although with the caveat that it was nominated more than once in some categories) – it’s not too much of a shock that such a high nomination count would lead to an equally impressive win count. In addition to the film’s winning of the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy prize (for which it beat out such films as Sean Baker’s “Anora” and Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”), the film also secured wins for Best Non-English Language film (it’s a French production that’s spoken largely in Spanish), Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Zoe Saldana, and Best Original Song for the tune “El Mal” (for which Audiard, Camille, and Clement Ducol were awarded). Admittedly, few of these specific categories are known to be reliable indicators of a potential Best Picture win at the Academy Awards, but if nothing else, the multiple wins achieved by “Emilia Perez” suggest that it’s a major contender for the upcoming awards show nonetheless.
Serving as that film’s biggest competition – or at least that’s the impression given by the Golden Globes – is Brady Corbet’s epic period drama “The Brutalist”, which came in second place in terms of overall wins with a total of three awards. In addition to the film’s winning of the Best Motion Picture – Drama prize (for which it beat out the likes of James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part 2”, the film also secured Corbet a win for Best Director and Adrien Brody a win for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. Unlike many of the accolades given to “Emilia Perez”, those given for directing and lead acting, while not absolute certainties, do tend to suggest that these kinds of films are those most favored to win the highly coveted Best Picture prize. This is not to suggest that “The Brutalist” is guaranteed a Best Picture win at the upcoming Academy Awards, but the Best Director and Best Actor prizes it’s been given do make its odds a bit better than some – if not most – of its competition.
Having said all that, there is still some pretty solid competition that both “The Brutalist” and “Emilia Perez” will have to contend with, with many of the films that will also vie for major victory at the Oscars also managing to secure at least one win at the Golden Globes. For starters, the award for Best Screenplay – a category that has often (but not always) lined up with the eventual Best Picture winner – was given to Peter Straughan for the script he wrote for Edward Berger’s “Conclave”, which had been nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama and could hypothetically win Straughan a similar award (specifically Best Adapted Screenplay) at the Oscars. The other acting categories, meanwhile, give a good impression as to which kinds of performances most voters are choosing to honor and recognize this year: Fernanda Torres pulled perhaps the biggest upset of the evening with her win in Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her role in Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here”, while the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy award was given to Demi Moore for her role in the black comedy body horror “The Substance”. Then there’s Sebastian Stan and his winning of Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, a prize he earned for his performance in Aaron Schimberg’s black comedy psychological thriller “A Different Man”, and Kiernan Culkin, who was given Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his role in co-star Jesse Eisenberg’s buddy dramedy “A Real Pain”. Most of these films are also contenders for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and while there’s little to imply that each of them being nominated is a surefire thing, these wins do suggest that there is plenty of attention being directed towards them nonetheless.
The remaining film categories are not quite as indicative of what could be a potential nominee for Best Picture, but the prizes are still worth at least some acknowledgment. The award for Best Animated Feature, for example, was something of a surprise, with the Latvian-produced “Flow” beating out favorites like “The Wild Robot” and “Inside Out 2” to take home the prize, while the award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement was given to “Wicked”, which continues to be one of the more popular features currently viewable in theaters. Lastly, Luca Guadagnino’s sports drama “Challengers” earned a Best Original Score prize for composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, a small but significant win in an evening that was largely made up of many other small but significant wins.
