Awards Season 2021: Golden Globes Winners

Last night (Sunday 28th February 2021), the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced the winners of the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards, for both television and film, in a ceremony co-hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler for the fourth time.

For the first time, the ceremony took place on both US coasts with Fey at the Rainbow Room in New York and Amy Poehler at the usual Globes venue: the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. Frontline and essential workers were invited to be the socially-distanced live audiences in both New York and LA, whilst many of the winners accepted their awards at home.

Here is the full list of film winners.

Best Motion Picture (Drama): Nomadland

Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy): Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Best Director: Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)

Best Actor (Drama): Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical): Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)

Best Actress (Drama): Andra Day (The United States Vs. Billie Holiday)

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical): Rosamund Pike (I Care A Lot)

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya (Judas And The Black Messiah)

Best Supporting Actress: Jodie Foster (The Mauritanian)

Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (The Trial Of The Chicago 7)

Best Original Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste (Soul)

Best Original Song: "Io Si (Seen)" (The Life Ahead)

Best Foreign Language Film: Minari

Best Animated Feature Film: Soul

Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Jane Fonda


Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Nomadland, and Soul all took home two Globes each. 

Fey and Poehler's opening monologue was a bit hit-and-miss, but there were a couple of nice little moments, such as "if the British actors are playing British people, it's TV; if they're playing Americans, it's a movie" and "The Queen's Gambit was... whatever James Corden was up to in The Prom, I guess?". They also addressed the recent furore that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has no Black members, with a plea to getting it changed. 

As you can imagine, there were one or two technical glitches - Daniel Kaluuya was on mute for a large part of his acceptance speech which, given it was the first award of the evening, was a little embarrassing. But it more or less evened out throughout the event. There were some cute family photobombing moments (Mark Ruffalo's kids jumped on screen to help celebrate his win, and Lee Isaac Chung's adorable young daughter was overjoyed with his win for Best Foreign Language Film). Also, lots of dogs. 

Chadwick Boseman's wife Taylor Simone Ledward gave an emotional speech accepting her late husband's Best Actor award. Along with Jane Fonda's acceptance of the Cecil B. DeMille Award, it was the most impactful part of the evening. 

Couple of things of note: Chloé Zhao is only the second woman to win the Best Director Golden Globe (after Barbra Streisand for Yentl in 1984) and Andra Day is only the second Black actress to win the Best Actress (Drama). Wins for Rosamund Pike, Jodie Foster, and Day seem to put the cat amongst the pigeons in terms of wider awards stuff (whereas Day's chance at an Oscar nod were potentially a bit slim before, it's a big boost to her with two weeks before the Oscars are announced). 

On the television side, The Crown swept the board with four wins (including three for its cast, with Josh O'Connor, Emma Corrin, and Gillian Anderson honoured for their work) and I was particularly pleased to see Schitt's Creek win Best Musical or Comedy, and Catherine O'Hara winning Best Actress for playing the fabulously flamboyant Moira Rose. O'Hara's acceptance speech was quite something, with her husband sat next to her increasing the volume of the play-off music on his phone as she spoke. 

Congratulations to all winners!

Next up with awards season is the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday 7th March. 

Review; Carnage (UK cert 15)

Yasmina Reza’s play La Dieu Du Carnage (‘God Of Carnage’) first premiered in Zurich in 2006. It was translated into English and had a run in the West End in 2008 before a Broadway production in 2009. Now, Reza adapts her own play for the movie version, directed in Paris by Roman Polanski (who also co-writes).

Two sets of parents- Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly) and Nancy and Alan Cowan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz)- meet to discuss a playground altercation between their sons. The fragile veneer of civility starts to crumble as accusations start to fly and irrational arguments and tensions boil over. Unfolding in real time over eighty minutes, Carnage is fun but ultimately insubstantial.

All four actors are excellent in their respective roles- Foster self-righteous and highly-strung; Reilly mitigating and balanced; Winslet neurotic and anxious; Waltz sarcastic and caustic. The interplay between the four characters, their petty squabbles and veiled snubs at one another, is the driving force of the film. For a piece that originated in the theatre, it is entirely appropriate that words should be what kicks things off. When writing their deposition, Penelope- a writer- suggests that the Cowans’ son was ‘armed’ with a stick; Alan- an attorney- challenges her on the use of that word. It is this pedantic use of language that causes some of Carnage’s finest moments.

Throughout the course of the eighty minutes, battle lines are drawn, alliances formed and changed; at certain points the women gang up on the men and vice versa, or husbands quarrel with wives. At times the children’s altercation lies abandoned as the four adults tear into one another. Arguably, Waltz gives the best performance- much of the humour came from his delivery and demeanour.

You can tell Carnage started life as a play. It’s very stagy in places and I’m not sure if that’s down to the script, the direction or both. For the most part, the action is contained within the Longstreets’ apartment with occasional forays into the lobby. There is a certain implausibility to the speed at which characters get drunk which may be forgiven on stage but not so much on film. There’s also a slightly ill-advised scene of gross-out comedy when Nancy, constantly nervous, vomits all over the coffee table which, whilst initially funny, seems out of place with the rest of the piece. It also just ends. No real resolution, just a fade to black as the characters sit around.

Nonetheless, it’s worth seeing for the quartet of brilliant performances given by the cast.

Rating: 3 out of 5


Tez