The big question of this year’s Golden Globes was how the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would reflect the issue currently dominating Hollywood: the #MeToo movement. Things hadn’t got off to the greatest start – already before the gongs had been handed out , it had been criticised for failing to include a woman in the best director nomination list.
The event itself though immediately acknowledged the elephant in the living room, and put it centre stage in Seth Meyers’ opening monologue; he conceded the irony of having a man present the show, although pointed out, with some justification, that potential women presenters might be reluctant to associate themselves with the prize-giving establishment just at this moment. And the Globes ended with a rousing speech from Oprah Winfrey, winner of the Cecil B DeMille award for lifetime achievement: a performance which triggered euphoric #Oprah2020 hashtags. She certainly looked like she would turn and make mincemeat of Donald Trump if he tried his sneaking-up-behind routine while she was speaking. The evening was a sea of respectful black, although the assembled throng might well contain quite a few nervy men silently wondering if they really have got away with it, as my colleague Marina Hyde has pointed out.
Play Video 1:53 Oprah Winfrey’s powerful Golden Globes speech: 'a new day is on the horizon' - video
Leading the way with four awards, Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has become a symbolic billboard itself: the story of a very angry woman with nothing left to lose who demands to know why the bigoted male authorities are doing nothing about rape and murder – that is, the rape and murder of her daughter. Frances McDormand got the best actress (drama) Globe for the Mother-Courage ferocity of her performance and the film got best picture (drama) and best screenplay. Sam Rockwell got his best supporting actor prize for playing the morose, racist cop who goes on a journey of redemption – and incidentally beating out my personal tip, Christopher Plummer, famously brought in as an emergency replacement for Spacey to play the cantankerous oil baron J Paul Getty in Ridley Scott’s All The Money in the World. He also defeated Willem Dafoe who gave such an outstanding performance in Sean Baker’s The Florida Project.
Three Billboards is a fierce, stabbingly funny, laceratingly uncomfortable movie, and today it is probably the right film at the right moment, although there is a debate to be had about the intersectional issue; the extent to which the film matches its satire of racism with representation of black characters on screen.
Greta Gerwig’s autobiographical coming-of-age comedy Lady Bird is a lovely movie and a thoroughly worthy winner of best film (comedy/musical). Saoirse Ronan was also a very worthy winner for best actress (comedy/musical). This outstanding performer has found the ideal role for her complex, demanding screen presence. But this actually highlights the big injustice of the night: no nomination for Greta Gerwig in the best director category.
Golden Globes 2018: Three Billboards wins four but Oprah steals the night Read more
Gary Oldman was probably always going to win best actor (drama) for his irresistibly rousing, seductive and seamlessly latexed turn as Winston Churchill in Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour. Perhaps it should be pointed out that the respective ages of actor and subject aren’t so very far apart: Churchill was 65 in 1940 and Oldman is now 59 – but British men behaved like middle-aged frumps from about their late 20s in those days. The film is set in May 1940 as Hitler was poised across the Channel and the establishment, in the form of Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane) and Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) were getting ready to revive the politics of appeasement. The film shows Churchill fighting a political war on two fronts and Oldman very entertainingly and shrewdly shows his balancing act.
I personally would have given the best actor (comedy/musical) prize to Daniel Kaluuya for his terrific performance in the race satire Get Out; in the event, it went to James Franco for his undoubtedly funny and technically very accomplished turn in the true-life story The Disaster Artist as Tommy Wiseau, the bizarrely untalented actor-director of the so-bad-it’s-a-masterpiece cult film The Room.
Allison Janney is a tremendously funny and droll screen performer and her best supporting actress (drama) Globe for her turn as LaVona Golden, mother of the disgraced skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya will be a popular choice, although this must surely have been a very close call. Laurie Metcalf must surely have been in with a very good chance for her supremely good portrayal of Saoirse Ronan’s mother in Lady Bird and Mary J Blige and Octavia Spencer were both very good in Mudbound and The Shape of Water respectively.
The Shape of Water might, on the face of it, seem to be a bit of a loser in the proceedings: it won a best director prize for Guillermo Del Toro, but not the armful of prizes that many had predicted for the swooningly gorgeous sci-fi romance. This might well be how the Academy Awards play out for this movie, and it doesn’t quite do justice to this distinctive, immersively strange and rather wonderful fantasy film.
In terms of pure flat-out disagreement, I have only one: the best foreign film Golden Globe has gone to – groan! – In the Fade, by the usually excellent Fatih Akin. This is a mediocre revenge drama which looks like nothing more than the TV movie of the week. The film itself is a hand-wringing liberal-lite issue drama with a very moderate performance from Diane Kruger taking on – or possibly not taking on – the neo-Nazi terrorists who killed her husband and son. Every single other nominated film was much, much better than this ropey bit of silliness: particularly Andrei Zvyagintsev’s Loveless and Ruben Östlund’s Cannes Palme-winning The Square. But there you go.
The Globes did not disgrace themselves at this hour of trial, and in Frances McDormand and Oprah Winfrey, they had potent figureheads of protest.
UPDATED with video: Fox Searchlight’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won the Best Motion Picture Drama award tonight to wrap up the 75th annual Golden Globes. It marked a fitting end to a ceremony in which the film won an evening-high four trophies, including a Best Actress nod for star Frances McDormand that solidified her status an the Oscar frontrunner in the category.
Earlier in the night, Three Billboards‘ Sam Rockwell won Best Supporting Actor, and writer-director Martin McDonagh won for Best Screenplay.
It certainly solidifies its status as an Oscar Best Picture player, and also powered Searchlight to a night-leading six wins among the studios. Only A24 got more than one — Lady Bird was named Best Picture Comedy or Musical and scored a Best Actress win for Saoirse Ronan, and James Franco won Best Actor Comedy/Musical for The Disaster Artist.
The film, which stars McDormand as a grieving single mother’s anger against an arguably corrupt police department that has failed to solve the case of her daughter’s rape and murder, came in with five nominations on the night.
It won in a category that included Sony Pictures Classics’ Call Me By Your Name, Warner Bros’ Dunkirk, Fox’s The Post and Fox Searchlight’s The Shape of Water, the last of which led all films with seven total noms.
The 2018 Golden Globes began the year’s awards show season with a sea of predictable and safe winners — with one notable exception.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri took home the award for Best Picture — Drama, surprising many who predicted the award would go to The Post or The Shape of Water. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association also awarded Best Actress to the incredibly deserving Frances McDormand and Best Screenplay to Martin McDonagh.
The top-nominated film The Shape of Water took home a number of awards, including Best Director for Guillermo del Toro and Best Original Score, composed by Alexandre Desplat. But the film suffered some major losses, the biggest one of the night aside. Octavia Spencer, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Shape of Water, lost out to Allison Janney. Janney was awarded for her portrayal as Tonya Harding’s mother in I, Tonya.
James Franco was awarded Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical — Motion Picture for his portrayal as the illustrious Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist. Franco beat out competition from Steve Carell, Ansel Elgort, Hugh Jackman, and Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya. The Disaster Artist and Get Out both lost out to Lady Bird for the Best Picture — Comedy or Musical award.
It was a big night for television, too, which saw some well-deserved winners.
Big Little Lies, HBO’s miniseries starring Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley, won Best Limited Series. Big Little Lies also won a similar award during the 2017 Emmy Awards. Alexander Skarsgård won the award for Best Supporting Actor in a TV Drama, beating out Stranger Things’ David Harbour.
Best TV Drama was awarded to Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which also won the award for Best Drama at the 2017 Emmy Awards. Lead actress Elisabeth Moss won Best Actress in a Drama for her portrayal as June Osborne. The Handmaid’s Tale beat out Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, This is Us and The Crown for the accolade.
There were a few other big losses throughout the night. The Boss Baby was robbed of its Best Animated Feature Golden Globe award, losing out to Pixar’s Coco. Game of Thrones lost the only award it was nominated for, Best TV Drama. Game of Thrones may fare better next year, following a powerful seventh season.
Most of the movies nominated at this year’s Golden Globes should have another opportunity for award show glory at the Academy Awards in March. Those nominees will be announced on Jan. 23. The Oscars will take place on March 4, 2018.
