Golden Globes:
The team behind “La La Land,” left, took the award for best musical or comedy movie, “Moonlight” won best dramatic film, and honoree Meryl Streep grabbed the spotlight with a politically charged speech.
The musical “La La Land” emerged as the big winner at Sunday night’s 74th annual Golden Globes presentation, taking home seven awards, including best picture, best actor (Ryan Gosling) and best actress (Emma Stone) in the musical or comedy categories. Meanwhile, the drama categories were split. Casey Affleck won best actor for “Manchester by the Sea,” and best actress went to Isabelle Huppert for “Elle” — two glorious performances. And “Moonlight,” from director Barry Jenkins, won best picture.
Yet the event that everyone came away talking about was the acceptance of the Cecil B. DeMille Award by Meryl Streep. The DeMille award is the Golden Globes’ lifetime achievement award, and everyone expected that Streep would do what previous winners have done — pretend to be overcome by emotion and thank everyone who was ever nice to her. Instead, she used the award as a platform to talk about another 2016 performance, the one “that sank its hooks into my heart” — Donald Trump’s mocking of a disabled man before an audience of laughing supporters. “I can’t get it
out of my head,” Streep said, “because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life.”
Streep never mentioned Trump by name, and neither did anyone else who spoke from stage. But even before Streep’s comments, his looming presidency had been alluded to numerous times, in jokes by emcee Jimmy Fallon and asides by various winners. But it was Streep who dared to take on the historical moment directly. She talked about Hollywood, about foreigners, and about the press and about the importance of each in American life.
Streep said that “when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”
She noted that “Hollywood” is a reviled place. But in reviewing the backgrounds of several of her colleagues surrounding her at the Globes, she said that it’s really a community filled with people from other places united in the mission to show different people and make audiences feel what they feel.
“If you kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts,” she said.
Trump, reached by phone early Monday by the New York Times, said he was “not surprised” by the remarks of Streep, whom he called “a Hillary lover.” He also referred to her as being one of a group of “liberal movie people.”
Returning to the awards, “La La Land” was the hands-down favorite Sunday night as it also won in the general categories of screenplay, director, original score and song.
The Golden Globes are best know for being a harbinger for the Oscars. Are they? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Usually, whoever wins in the musical/comedy categories doesn’t matter much past the ceremony, but this year “La La Land” will probably be an exception. In any case, academy voters have until Friday, Jan. 13, to vote, and if they haven’t yet seen “La La Land,” “Moonlight,” “Elle” or “Manchester by the Sea,” this will give them an excuse to pop those DVDs into their players.
From here, it’s looking like a battle between “Moonlight” and “La La Land,” with “La La Land” in an early lead. Along that line, best score went to “La La Land” composer Justin Hurwitz, and “City of Stars,” from the same film, won best song. It’s a perfectly nice song, but it doesn’t get better upon repeat hearings, so brace yourself between now and the Oscars.
The Globes’ supporting awards embodied their usual mix of the puzzling and obvious. Aaron Taylor-Johnson won for “Nocturnal Animals,” which was surprising, in that his nomination was in itself a bit unlikely, as everyone expected Michael Shannon, from the same film, to be nominated in that category. The mystery ended as soon as Taylor-Johnson opened his mouth to accept the award. He’s British! The Golden Globes is where you find out which of your favorite stars are British, because that’s who wins.
Best supporting actress, however, made absolute sense. It went to Viola Davis for giving one of the year’s most memorable performances, in “Fences.” In her acceptance, she talked about her appreciation for the people who financed the film. Of “Fences,” she said, “It doesn’t scream moneymaker. But it does scream art.” Later in the program, it was Davis who introduced Streep, and it seemed as though she were going for a second award just for the presentation. She was impassioned and emotional about all that Streep’s work had meant in her life.
If we want to have fun and want to start guessing about the Oscars, this is how the top categories look from here. Viola Davis is a lock on best supporting actress. Best supporting actor is an unknown. Best actor is going to be between Affleck and Denzel Washington (“Fences”), and best actress is going to be interesting. Stone will definitely be nominated, and I’m beginning to think Huppert will be nominated, as well, albeit for a French language film. In fact, those two actresses may be the favorites.
The Globes also give out awards for television. Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” won best comedy series over heavyweights like “Veep” and “Transparent,” and Glover later added best actor in a comedy. Glover looked visibly surprised.
“I really want to thank Atlanta and all the black folks in Atlanta,” Glover said. “I couldn’t be here without Atlanta.”
Tracee Ellis Ross, accepting the award for best actress in a TV comedy for “Black-ish,” dedicated her award to “all of the women of color and colorful people whose stories, ideas, thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid and important.”
“I want you to know that I see you, we see you,” Ross said.
“The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” took best miniseries, as well as an award for Sarah Paulson. But other winners were less prepared. Hugh Laurie, star of “The Night Manager,” looked even more surprised when he won best supporting actor in a limited series or TV film over the likes of John Travolta (“The People v. O.J. Simpson”) and John Lithgow (”The Crown”). Laurie was one of the few early winners to pepper his acceptance speech with comments about Trump. “I accept this award on behalf of psychopathic billionaires everywhere,” he said. “The Night Manager” won two more awards, including best actor for Tom Hiddleston.