Golden Globes 2019: A trivial ceremony with mediocre wins

Awards season officially arrived yesterday with the annual Golden Globes in Los Angeles, widely viewed as a precursor to the Oscars in February. Unlike last year’s ceremony, where women in the entertainment industry wore black with Time’s Up badges, last night was largely apolitical.

Unless you lived under a rock - or, more likely, you have no time for Hollywood bullshit - you will remember Oprah Winfrey’s rousing speech last year that called time on men’s dominance over the industry and the pervasive abuse of women. However, even with all the gains of the #MeToo movement, the number of Hollywood hits directed by women hit a 20-year low in 2018. So, this year’s Golden Globes felt less poignant, rather trivial, and quite frankly disappointing for honouring two of this year’s most problematic (in my opinion) films.

There certainly were wins for diversity at this year’s ceremony, but the big winners of the night are likely to be met with some disdain due to their reductive and, at times, one-dimensional handling of race and sexuality. The two films that won major awards at the 76th Golden Globes, hosted by Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh, were the Freddie Mercury biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and the fact-based comedy ‘Green Book’.

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ won the Golden Globe for best drama, beating out ‘A Star Is Born’ which was hotly-anticipated as the big winner of the night. Rami Malek, who portrayed Freddie Mercury in the film, also won in the best actor category. ‘Green Book’, a comedy about a black pianist and his driver in the Deep South in the segregation era, won best motion picture in the musical or comedy category, as well as best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali for his portrayal of Dr Don Shirley, and it clinched best screenplay too.

Both films inspired mixed reviews from critics, with many commenting that both glazed over complex issues like Mercury’s sexuality and his subsequent death caused by AIDS, and racism and segregation in the Deep South, in favour of diluted Hollywood versions that aimed to be crowd-pleasers. And there is surely no doubt that fans of Bradley Cooper’s ‘A Star is Born’ feel hard done by after Lady Gaga and Cooper were snubbed as best actors, and the movie itself didn’t win best picture.

‘A Star is Born’ didn’t walk away empty-handed, though, as “Shallow” was awarded best original song. Best director went to Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón for his drama ‘Roma’, which also won in the best foreign language film category. Best performance by an actress was given to Glenn Close in ‘The Wife’, and Close used her speech to champion women finding self-fulfilment both outside and inside the domestic sphere. Olivia Colman won best actress in a comedy or musical for her role in ‘The Favourite’.

Perhaps the most memorable speech of the night came from Christian Bale after he was awarded best actor for his portrayal of former vice president Dick Cheney. Bale thanked Satan for being his inspiration for his role in ‘Vice’, prompting the politician's daughter Liz Cheney to share an article from 2008 that detailed assault allegations against Bale brought by his mother and sister. “Satan probably inspired him to do this, too,” Liz Cheney wrote in a caption accompanying the article (no charges were made against Bale due to insufficient evidence). Bale also joked about playing Mitch McConnell in his next biopic.

Other notable wins include Sandra Oh in ‘Killing Eve’, who also became the first ever actor of Asian descent to co-host the Golden Globes, and the first Asian-Canadian to win a Golden Globe in a leading role. Oh also brought her family with her, all of whom were sporting T-shirts with “It’s an honour just to be Asian” emblazoned across them. That was a highlight of the night. Netflix’s TV series ‘The Kominsky Method’ scooped a couple of awards, and ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ won big too.

Here is a full list of last night’s winners:

Movies

Best Motion Picture, Drama:

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy:

‘Green Book’

Best Director, Motion Picture:

Alfonso Cuarón, ‘Roma’

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama:

Glenn Close, ‘The Wife’

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama:

Rami Malek, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy:

Olivia Colman, ‘The Favourite’

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy:

Christian Bale, ‘Vice’

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture:

Regina King, ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture:

Mahershala Ali, ‘Green Book’

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture:

Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly, ‘Green Book’

Best Motion Picture, Animated:

‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’

Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language:

‘Roma’

Best Original Score, Motion Picture:

Justin Hurwitz, ‘First Man’

Best Original Song, Motion Picture:

“Shallow” — ‘A Star Is Born’

Television

Best Television Series, Drama:

‘The Americans,’ FX

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama:

Sandra Oh, ‘Killing Eve’

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama:

Richard Madden, ‘Bodyguard’

Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy:

‘The Kominsky Method,’ Netflix

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy:

Rachel Brosnahan, ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy:

Michael Douglas, ‘The Kominsky Method’

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,’ FX

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television:

Patricia Arquette, ‘Escape at Dannemora’

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television:

Darren Criss, ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:

Patricia Clarkson, ‘Sharp Objects’

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:

Ben Whishaw, ‘A Very English Scandal’