Golden Globes aims to get classy, but falls short

SINGAPORE – The Golden Globes is trying to shed its image as the boozier, more frivolous sibling of the Oscars and, on Jan 8 morning (Singapore time), it showed that it was determined to clean up its act.

Serious films such as the biopic Oppenheimer

swept the most prestigious prizes.

Historical drama Killers Of The Flower Moon, directed by the venerated Martin Scorsese, also won an award.

Popular but less weighty shows were snubbed.

The comedy Barbie entered with the most nominations – nine in total – but 2023’s top-grossing film won only two, with one in the just-launched Cinematic and Box Office Achievement category, considered by critics to be a consolation prize.

Margot Robbie, who played the titular character, was pipped in the Best Actress, Musical or Comedy category by Emma Stone, the lead in the art-house comedy Poor Things.

Barbie, written by the husband-and-wife team of Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, was also tipped to win the Best Screenplay category, but lost to the Palme d’Or-winning legal drama Anatomy Of A Fall, written by Justine Triet and her life partner Arthur Harari, both from France.

Pivoting away from controversy

This year’s swing towards the artistic side of cinema can be traced to the voting changes carried out in 2023, which came after years of criticism over the voting body’s lack of diversity.

The voting body was

expanded to include more than 300 voters from 76 countries,

with two coming from Singapore – film journalist and critic Sara Merican, and student and film critic Morris Yang. Most are media professionals with experience covering film and television, which explains the sudden swing towards prestige shows.

In past years, when fewer than 100 voters from the now-defunct Hollywood Foreign Press Association decided on nominations and wins, the Globes earned a reputation for dubious choices.

It gave nods to critically panned shows, such as the thriller The Tourist (2010) and the Netflix series Emily In Paris (2020 to present) for reasons such as getting stars to show up (Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in the case of The Tourist) and for voters getting a free junket and an expensive hotel stay in Paris, in the case of the Netflix series set in the French capital.

But the event is not yet free from criticism.

The newly created Cinematic and Box Office Achievement category has been blasted for being a crass attempt to make sure that popular films and stars show up on the Globes red carpet, to lure fans to the broadcast.

The category got the world’s premier pop star, Taylor Swift, to show up to support her nominated film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.

On television and in animation, a win for Asian talent

Asian talent was well represented when the Netflix drama series Beef went home winning all the categories in which it was nominated. Ali Wong won Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Steven Yeun won Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, and the show picked up the Best Television Limited Series prize.

The series about two people enmeshed in a vendetta after a road rage incident has become the first show created by Asian Americans, and starring Asians, to win in that category.

Wong, 41, and Yeun, 40, also became the first actors of Asian descent to win in those categories.

In the Best Animated Feature category, Japan’s Studio Ghibli was the surprise winner. Its drama The Boy And The Heron, loosely based on the life of creator Hayao Miyazaki, beat the favourite – the superhero fantasy Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.

Another Asian win might have come from Past Lives, but there was

no joy for the romantic drama.

South Korean-Canadian writer-director Celine Song

lost to Christopher Nolan in the Best Director

– Drama category, and Korean-American lead actress Greta Lee lost the Best Actress Drama prize to Lily Gladstone from Killers Of The Flower Moon.

Bradley Cooper directed and starred in Netflix-distributed Maestro, a film that many felt was pure awards bait.

He was tipped to win Best Actor Drama, but was

upset by Irish actor Cillian Murphy,

who was the lead in Oppenheimer, the other award-baiting biopic about a tormented genius.

Bad jokes ruled

Host Jo Koy, an American comedian-actor, will go down as one of the worst in Globes history.

His quips about Oppenheimer’s three-hour runtime and Barbie being about a plastic doll were excruciating. His delivery was met with polite laughter at The Beverly Hilton ballroom, but online, he is being roasted by critics and fans for his weak material, which he blamed on accepting the hosting job at the last minute in December 2023.

The Writers Guild of America’s strike, which stretched from May to September 2023, had also shortened preparation time for the entire production.

Presenters Michelle Yeoh and Naomi Watts were among the many stars given groan-worthy lines, and even seasoned comedians Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig, whose chemistry together has been the highlight of the Oscars and Golden Globes for years, could not save the show with their goofy, overlong dancing skit.

No clips or performances

It was an event with a wealth of musicians in attendance. In the crowd were Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, winners of the Best Original Song prize for What Was I Made For? (Barbie).

Bruce Springsteen – nominated for the song Addicted To Romance, in romantic comedy She Came To Me – was there too, along with Dua Lipa for her song Dance The Night (Barbie).

Swift, possibly the biggest music star in the world today, was present.

Instead of musical performances, only bad skits were offered.

More movie clips would have lightened the mood, especially for the acting awards. But only a few were given, and only in the major categories towards the end of what felt like a very long evening.

List of winners at the 81st Golden Globes

Film

Television