As someone who has been covering movie award shows for almost a decade, it’s really easy to just throw together articles on ceremony recaps and winners of the night – especially if you’re just not feeling the season movie-wise. This season is actually a bit of a mix for me. You have interesting films like “A Star is Born,” “The Favourite,” “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “BlackKklansman,” “Roma,” “The Old Man & the Gun,” “Eighth Grade,” and so on.
And then there are those “filler spot,” or the movies that got mediocre reception, yet are still nominated from successful lobbying. This year it’s “Green Book” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” both of which got very divisive feedback upon release. “Green Book” is being accused of sugar-coating a moment in Black history, with the narrative being told from the white co-lead’s point of view. On the other hand, Bohemian Rhapsody is being called out for wholly rewriting Queen – and Freddie Mercury’s – history for the sake of making the movie more family friendly. And yet, to the surprise of this very puzzled viewer, both films won Best Comedy and Best Drama at the Golden Globes on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Best Drama nominee “A Star is Born” has been met with huge success with both critics and audiences, and even found large popularity with its original soundtrack. “The Favourite” and “Beale Street” also did very well with acclaim and were also nominated for Best Comedy and Best Drama.
If you’ve been following the beginning of awards season, which started in December, “A Star is Born,” “The Favourite,” and “Roma” were already huge Oscar front runners. “Roma” did fortunately win Best Foreign Film and Best Director (Alfonso Cuaron), though it missed out on a Best Drama nomination because of a GG rule that disallows giving foreign films Best Drama/Comedy nominations. Otherwise, the Mexican picture might have been legitimate competition against “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
And, since “A Star is Born” lost Drama, Director (Bradley Cooper), Dramatic Actor (Cooper), and Dramatic Actress (Lady Gaga), and only took home Best Song (“Shallow”), who knows what’s in store for the next six weeks. Best Actor has been sort of up in the air between Cooper and Ethan Hawke for his performance in “First Reformed,” but that was before Christian Bale in “Vice” won Best Comedic Actor at the Globes and Rami Malek won for Best Dramatic Actor for “Rhapsody.” Hawke is by far the big favorite from critics, but was completely shut out and wasn’t even nominated at the GGs.
Best Comedic Actress went to Olivia Colman for “The Favourite” at the Globes, whom has been predicted to be neck-in-neck with Gaga as possible Best Actress winner at the Oscars next month. But again, that was before Glenn Close won out of nowhere for “The Wife” at the Globes in the Dramatic Actress category, and now Close might have momentum against Gaga. It is truly a free-for-all at the present, and hopefully won’t be a headache for everyone following by the time the Academy votes.
Megan Bianco
