Five takeaways from the Golden Globes
LOS ANGELES: The Golden Globes on Sunday (Monday in Manila) experimented with a virtual format and cemented “Nomadland” as the film to beat this Hollywood awards season.
Here are five key takeaways from the night:
1. Netflix arrives (sort of...) When it lost the first few awards, Netflix must have dreaded a repeat of last year's fiasco, when it converted just two of its 34 nods.
But the streaming giant's increased clout in Hollywood proved impossible to ignore, as it ultimately topped both the film and TV awards Sunday.
British royals series "The Crown" proved especially popular, sweeping four prizes including various acting gongs and best drama, and Netflix earned two other TV statuettes for "The Queen's Gambit."
On the film side, the late Chadwick Boseman won for "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," Rosamund Pike for "I Care A Lot" and Sophia Loren's "The Life Ahead" won best original song.
2. No party, no Globes. More than any other Hollywood award show, the Globes depend on their reputation for hosting a star-packed, champagne-drenched party of a night. On Sunday, with all those elements absent due to Covid-19, it showed.
An initial review from Variety called it a "lazy, clueless ceremony," while Deadline dubbed the show "bloated and glitchy."
3. Diversity takes center stage.
The Globes-awarding Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been under fire this week after a Los Angeles Times expose reported that it lacks a single Black member.
Everybody from winners and presenters to co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler poked fun at the group, which put three senior members on stage to promise change.
Yet the group — known for conservative choices — ultimately chose a diverse array of winners.
Black awardees included Boseman, Kaluuya, Andra Day and "Soul" composer Jon Batiste, while Chloe Zhao became the first Asian female to win best director.
4. Politics. With the end of Donald Trump's presidency still fresh in liberal Hollywood's mind, the Globes offered a chance to ridicule the former president after his removal from the White House.
5. Records tumble. Chloe Zhao stole the "record-breaking" headlines with her "Nomadland" the first best drama directed by a woman, and as the first Asian woman to win best director. But other records also tumbled Sunday. Sorkin — already the most-nominated Globes screenwriter — became the joint biggest winner in the screenplay category, alongside Robert Bolt and Quentin Tarantino. The trio now each have three wins.
And Boseman became just the second posthumous winner — and first in four decades — for best drama actor.
The previous, Peter Finch, went on to win an Oscar for his star turn in 1976's "Network."