Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Movies with message
‘Me Too,’ Oprah Winfrey set tone at Golden Globes.
With a red carpet dyed black by actresses dressed in a color-coordinated statement, the Golden Globes were transformed into an A-list expression of female empowerment in the post-Harvey Weinstein era.
Oprah Winfrey led the charge.
“For too long women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men,” said Winfrey, accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. “But their time is up. Their time is up!”
More than any award handed out Sunday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Winfrey’s moment — one greeted by a rousing, ongoing standing ovation and that left many attendees and viewers in tears — encapsulated the “Me Too” mood at an atypically powerful Golden Globes. The night served as Hollywood’s fullest response yet to the sexual harassment scandals that have roiled the film industry and laid bare its gender inequalities.
The movie that many consider speaks most directly to the moment — the revenge dark comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, about a mother avenging the rape and murder of her daughter — emerged as the night’s top film. It won best picture, drama, best actress for Frances McDormand, best supporting actor for Sam Rockwell and best screenplay for writer-director Martin McDonagh.
The first award of the night went to one of Hollywood’s most powerful women: Nicole Kidman, for her performance in HBO’s Big Little Lies, a series she and Reese Witherspoon also produced.
Big Little Lies won a leading four awards, including best limited series and best supporting actress for Laura Dern. Like seven other female stars, Dern walked the red carpet with a women’s rights activist as part of an effort to keep the Globes spotlight trained on sexual harassment.
Other winners continued the theme. Amazon’s recently debuted The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, about a 1950s housewife who takes up stand-up comedy, won best TV series comedy, and best actress for Rachel Brosnahan. Elisabeth Moss, accepting an award for her performance in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, movingly dedicated her award to Margaret Atwood, whose book the show is based on, and the women who came before her and after her. The Handmaid’s Tale later added the award for best TV series, drama.
Hollywood’s awards season is seen as wide open, and a handful of movies came away with big wins.
Greta Gerwig’s mother-daughter tale Lady Bird won best picture, comedy or musical, and best actress for Saoirse Ronan. Guillermo del Toro’s Cold War-era fantasy The Shape of Water won for its score and del Toro’s directing.
Notably left empty-handed was Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, Jordan Peele’s horror sensation Get Out and Steven Spielberg’s The Post, which emcee Seth Meyers, alluding to its awards-season bona fides, feigned to present an armful of Globes before the show even started.
Best actor in a comedy or musical went to James Franco for his performance as the infamous The Room filmmaker Tommy Wiseau.
Gary Oldman, considered by some to be the best actor front runner, won for his Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, edging out newcomer Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) and Tom Hanks (The Post).
Best foreign language film went to Germany’s In the Fade. Allison Janney took best supporting actress in a comedy for the Tonya Harding tale I, Tonya. Aziz Ansari took best actor in a comedy series for his Netflix show Master of None.
Best animated film went to the Pixar release Coco.
Just about everyone, woman and man, celebrity and red-carpet reporters, was dressed in black Sunday. This Is Us star Chris Sullivan even sported black fingernails. Later, his co-star Sterling K. Brown won for best drama actor. Brown, the first black man to win the category, thanked This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman.
“You wrote a role for a black man that can only be played by a black man,” said Brown. “I’m being seen for who I am.”