Globes’ gyrations
Hey. What. Where am I? Did I oversleep again?
Did I just miss the Golden Globes? When were they on? What channel had them this year?
Longtime readers of these pages know that I absolutely love the Golden Globes and never miss them. Longtime readers of these pages also know that I am frequently prone to sarcasm.
If you care about these things, then you know that the Golden Globe Awards were handed out eight days ago without any ceremony. No hosts. No jokes. No stars. No TV broadcast. This was a result of the high level of infection. No, not Covid infection. It was an infection of… do we dare say political correctness? Let’s not. PC is one of those terms that has been over-used to the point of being useless. The Globes were not broadcast because they were deemed toxic.
This puts me in an awkward position. For years I have railed against the Globes. No, that’s not strictly right. In truth, my problem wasn’t precisely with the Globes themselves or with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that conducts them. Well, maybe a bit with the HPFA. They seem kind of shady to me. But my main problem was always with the media attention that was lavished on awards bestowed by such a small and non-representative group and which treated them as much more significant than they really were. Lambasting the HFPA was for me just an extra bonus. Now, thanks to the Globes being chased off the airwaves in disgrace, it nearly forces me to defend them. Nearly.
The official reason for the HFPA’s ignominy is its lack of diversity. Okay. I can certainly see how a lack of diversity is a problem in U.S. institutions because it’s a clear sign of a more fundamental societal problem. The HFPA is an organization made up of non-Americans from a variety of countries, and it’s not clear to me how the same standard of diversity can or should be applied in that case. I’m not making an argument here. I’m just pleading ignorance.
Here’s the other awkward thing about this year’s Golden Globes. I generally agree with their choices—at least in terms of the movies and television shows with which I’m familiar. Indeed, overall during its lifetime the Globes’ choices of film and programs to honor is generally solid—as you would expect from any group of professional critics. For that they should certainly be taken seriously, though not in the same way as opinions of (much larger numbers of) people who actually work in the industry—or for that matter as the collective opinion of the public that pays (and thus supports) the industry.
So for the record let me acknowledge some of their choices this year with which I agree.
They gave the Best Director (Motion Picture) award and the Best Motion Picture (Drama) awards to Jane Campion and her film The Power of the Dog, which currently sits at the top of my own list of best movies for 2021. So I can hardly argue with those nods. I can, however, argue (as always) with the Globes’ strange list of categories that, for example, lumps musicals and comedies together.
Best Original Score (Motion Picture) for Dune? Hans Zimmer’s score is very good, but The French Dispatch (Alexandre Desplat) and The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood) are good too. Shrug.
It’s hard to argue with Andrew Garfield (Best Actor – Musical or Comedy) for Tick, Tick… Boom!, though I haven’t yet seen most of the movies in that category.
Kodi Smit-McPhee (Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture) for The Power of the Dog? I won’t argue, although Ciarán Hinds was awfully good in Belfast.
Jeremy Strong (Best TV Actor – Drama) for Succession? I haven’t seen most of the other nominees, but his castmate Brian Cox would have been a (pardon the wordplay) stronger choice. Won’t argue with their castmate Sara Snook’s win in the Supporting TV Actress category either, though that’s mainly by default.
Won’t argue with Jason Sudeikis (Best TV Actor – Musical or Comedy) for Ted Lasso. He does a great job in that series—as do the entire cast. Still, I have a sentimental pull as well toward Martin Short and Steve Martin for their work in Only Murders in the Building. No arguing, though, with Kate Winslet (take a deep breath: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television”) for her impressive work in Mare of Easttown.
Kudos to Jean Smart (Best TV Actor – Musical or Comedy) and Hacks (Best TV Series – Musical or Comedy), one of the best series I’ve seen for a while. Also to Kenneth Branagh (Motion Picture Screenplay) for Belfast.
Did Succession deserve its win for Best TV Series (Drama)? There is a lot to say about that series, but that can wait for another time. For now I’ll just mention that, of all the nominees in that category, it’s the only one that I’ve actually seen, so that probably tells you something right there.
One question: can the Academy Awards start handing out their prizes the same way the Golden Globes did this year?
-S.L., 17 January 2022
If you would like to respond to this commentary or to anything else on this web site, please send a message to feedback@scottsmovies.com. Messages sent to this address will be considered for publishing on the Feedback Page without attribution. (That means your name, email address or anything else that might identify you won’t be included.) Messages published will be at my discretion and subject to editing. But I promise not to leave something out just because it’s unflattering.
If you would like to send me a message but not have it considered for publishing, you can send it to scott@scottsmovies.com.