With last night’s Golden Globes, awards season has commenced in earnest. Glitz and glam graced the red carpet while an abundance of stars lit up the show, but the real highlight was, of course, the winners. As the first awards show of the year, the Globes are a bit of a prognosticator for how the rest of the season will go—but with some major upsets, last night proved that it’s a fairly open playing field. Between those big surprises, a welcome return to hosting glory for the Globes, and some slightly strange moments, it was a night that offered much to discuss.
Nikki Glaser hosts the house down
Though she lost the award for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy, Nikki Glaser absolutely won the night. She handled her hosting duties leaps and bounds better than her predecessor Jo Koy, nailing sharp jabs and silly bits throughout the show. Her monologue mirrored the kind of roast comedy she’s become known for (who would’ve thought Ben Affleck’s sex life would be catching strays?), but some of the best moments came when she was willing to laugh at herself while uplifting the films that attendees came to celebrate. Case in point, the Wicked–Conclave crossover musical number “Pope-ular,” which was cut oh so woefully short—I’m sure Cardinal Tedesco could hit those high notes between vape hits!
The Golden Globes go global
True to the organization’s name, the Globes took a global approach to many of this year’s winners. Spanish-language French film Emilia Pérez was all but certain to walk away with several trophies after its 10 nominations, and it cleaned up quite nicely: not only did Emilia Pérez win Best Non-English Film, but it won Best Musical/Comedy, Best Original Song, and Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña (who increasingly looks like an undisputed favorite for the Oscar). The complex and powerful film capped off its wins with a speech from star Karla Sofía Gascón, the first trans woman nominated in any film acting category, as she declared, “You can maybe put us in jail, you can beat us up, but you can never take away our soul, our existence, our identity . . . I am who I am, not who you want.”
Emilia Pérez wasn’t the only international project to see success, either. As was to be expected after breaking the Emmys record for most wins by a show in a season, Shōgun swept the show in the TV categories, picking up wins for Best Drama Series, Best Actor for Hiroyuki Sanada, Best Actress for Anna Sawai, and Best Supporting Actor for a delightfully surprised Tadanobu Asano. The Latvian team behind Flow was equally as amazed for their win for Best Animated Feature, which proved that people love cats the world over.
But perhaps the most notable win of the night (and certainly its biggest shock) was Fernanda Torres, the star of Brazilian film I’m Still Here. She won Best Actress in the Drama category, beating out heavy hitters like Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman and Kate Winslet. That throws a wrench into pundits’ predictions for how the Oscar race will shake out, and it only gets more complicated when you look at the Musical/Comedy category.
Anora isn’t so Golden
Unlike its titular character, Anora went home empty-handed last night. The Palme d’Or-winning film seemed poised to win big in the Musical/Comedy categories, both Best Picture and Best Actress for Mikey Madison, and writer-director Sean Baker made sense as a Best Screenplay winner, but it wasn’t meant to be. There’s still plenty of time for the film to rack up some awards, but it has to settle for just the Palme for now.
Musical/Comedy winners had surprises and superb speeches
Speaking of the Musical/Comedy categories, they offered some of the biggest shocks of the night. Demi Moore winning Best Actress for her bonkers work in The Substance was a welcome surprise, as she beat out favorites like Mikey Madison and Cynthia Erivo. She also gave arguably the most touching speech of the night, overwhelmed with gratitude to finally be receiving recognition for her 45-year-long career in the industry. Hearing her talk about being called just a “popcorn actress” (and all the underlying objectification that implies) makes her performance in The Substance all the more powerful, and it made the win that much greater.
And, right after Moore won, another surprise was in store: Sebastian Stan won Best Actor for A Different Man. The small film focuses on a man with the rare disfiguring condition neurofibromatosis who seeks an experimental treatment to rid himself of it, only to be met by a man with the same condition (actor Adam Pearson) who’s everything he never could be. In his speech, Stan stood up for the necessity of inclusivity, saying, “Our ignorance and discomfort around disability and disfigurement has to end now… One way we can do that is by continuing to champion stories that are inclusive.” He also shouted out the other excellent film he was nominated for, The Apprentice, saying that both films “are tough subject matters, but these films are real and they’re necessary and we can’t be afraid.” Here’s hoping Stan will go on to secure an Oscar nom for either project!
The Brutalist stakes its claim on the season
Though the movie has only just come out, Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half hour historical drama The Brutalist is picking up steam to be a real Best Picture contender. It’s more than a little similar to last year’s Oppenheimer, if not for its length and place in time then for its audacious cinematography—the whole thing was shot on film using the VistaVision format, which hasn’t been used in Hollywood for over 60 years. That cinematic vision made Corbet a clear pick for the Best Director winner, and his film also received Best Drama and Best Actor for Adrien Brody. At the moment, it looks like The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez are the year’s big favorites.
Wicked gets the Barbie treatment
After much hype and four nominations, the cultural phenomenon that is Wicked won only the Golden Globe for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. The category continues to confound, though whether that’s because of Vin Diesel’s rambling, discomfiting introduction or its murkily-defined criteria is for you to decide. What’s really intriguing about this sole win, though, is how closely it mirrors last year’s Box Office winner, Barbie. Like Greta Gerwig’s film, Wicked was tapped as a favorite for awards across the board, but especially for the Globes’ Musical/Comedy categories. And yet, like Barbie, Wicked ultimately didn’t make enough of an impact on voters to win those categories—it almost makes the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award feel like a strange consolation prize. The film is hardly gone from awards discussions (it’s certain to take home a tech trophy or two for its production design, sound, hair and makeup, etc.), but the Globes clearly held space for other films instead.
