Golden Globes Analysis: What the ‘Emilia Pérez’ and ‘Brutalist’ Wins and ‘Anora’ Shutout Tell Us About the Oscar Race

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At the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, the Netflix musical “Emilia Pérez” and the A24 drama “The Brutalist” were the most nominated films. It’s not surprising that they both won the best picture awards. However, when you take a moment to consider it, it’s quite astonishing that on Sunday night, the two main winners were a Spanish-language, French-directed, and American-distributed musical about a transgender gangster, as well as a nearly four-hour film shot in VistaVision with an intermission.

As a dedicated gamer, I’ve noticed some people saying these movies represent everything that supposedly goes wrong in the gaming industry – being overly lengthy, preachy, and disconnected from reality. However, it’s important to note that neither of them were actually produced within the gaming hub, and the awards are decided by global journalists working for media outlets outside of America. Yet, others passionately argue that these are exactly the bold, humanistic creations that deserve recognition and applause.

independent of one’s stance on the matter, it is significantly noteworthy that The Brutalist, along with Brady Corbet winning Best Director and Adrien Brody earning the Drama Actor award, was so widely celebrated at Sunday’s televised event. Additionally, The Brutalist won for Best Non-English Language Film, Zoe Saldaña garnered the Best Supporting Actress award, and “El Mal” was recognized as Best Original Song. With Oscar nomination ballots being filled out by voters starting on Wednesday, this is quite remarkable.

Despite the similarities between winners at the Globes and Oscars last year, it’s worth noting that their preference patterns don’t always align. Therefore, those involved in other campaigns shouldn’t pack up just yet. In fact, several representatives of other films won individual Globe awards and delivered speeches that could bolster their prospects for the future.

In my gaming world, I was rooting for Demi Moore as she took home the best performance award in the musical/comedy category for “The Substance” on Mubi, beating out Mikey Madison from “Anora”, Emilia Pérez’s Karla Sofía Gascón, and Cynthia Erivo from “Wicked”. I had a feeling she would win, and boy was it a tour-de-force! But what really made her stand out was her heartfelt speech. She reminded us all of the years she’s been in the industry, how close she came to giving up as she grew older, and just how important this recognition feels to her now. Kerry Washington, the presenter, summed it up perfectly when she said after Moore left the stage, “Good luck to the next person who has to follow that speech.

It turned out that the individual who delivered the following speech was equally outstanding: Sebastian Stan, receiving the award for Best Musical/Comedy Actor for A24’s “A Different Man”. The catch-22 for Stan is that his exceptional performances in both films he was nominated for this year – the other being Briarcliff/Rich Spirit’s drama “The Apprentice”, which he acknowledged in his speech – are so remarkable, Oscar voters, who only have one best actor category, might split their votes, potentially preventing him from getting a nomination for either. I sincerely hope this doesn’t happen, as there hasn’t been a more impressive year for anyone than what Sebastian Stan has achieved.

Additionally, Saldaña, with a speech similar to Moore’s and even more enthusiastic, excelled on stage; Brody moved everyone to tears as he spoke poignantly about his parents (I was sitting next to them at the time); and Kieran Culkin, who won for Best Supporting Actor in Searchlight’s “A Real Pain,” much like Saldaña in her category, seems to be gaining a significant lead over the competition. Culkin’s humble self-deprecation in his speeches this season brings to mind Robert Downey Jr., who swept the same category last year with similar endearing awkwardness that Culkin is now exhibiting. What a cast of “character” actors!

Hopefully, others will improve at utilizing opportunities in the limelight more effectively in the future. During the Corbet’s best director acceptance speech, reading from an iPhone didn’t work well, but his heartfelt speech for best drama picture was much more impactful. Emilia Pérez’s director, Jacques Audiard, shouldn’t be criticized for his shaky English, but could benefit from delivering more concise speeches, such as those he made when accepting the awards for best musical/comedy picture and best non-English-language film. Thankfully, on Sunday, he eventually handed over the microphone to his leading actress, Gascón, during the former speech, and she delivered a commendable performance.

Other notable results?

In the Sony Classics film “I’m Still Here,” Fernanda Torres won the title of best drama actress, surprising even the favorites such as Angelina Jolie in Netflix’s “Maria” and Nicole Kidman in A24’s “Babygirl.” For quite some time, Torres has been a beloved figure on Film Twitter. However, it’s fascinating to witness the tangible support for her outstanding performance in Portuguese, which led to this win.

Despite being two-time Academy Award winners, the victory of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their best original score on Amazon/MGM’s “The Challenger” still came as a pleasant surprise.

In a surprising turn of events, the Latvian film “Flow” by Sideshow/Janus, which was nominated for both Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature at the Oscars, managed to outshine more well-known competitors such as Dreamworks’ “The Wild Robot”, Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2”, Netflix’s “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”, and Disney’s “Moana 2” to secure the award for Best Animated Feature.

In its second year, Wicked was awarded the Globe for outstanding cinematic and box office success. This seems to be an area where voters recognize a film that might not receive much recognition elsewhere, yet they appreciate the opportunity to see the stars on stage.

However, let me clarify: “Wicked” isn’t merely well-liked; it is also, like two of the underperforming movies on Sunday – “Conclave”, the winner of best screenplay from Focus, and “Anora”, which went home empty-handed – a film of exceptional quality. I believe that these films could make a much more impressive showing in a week at the Critics Choice Awards.

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2025-01-06 09:25