Award season officially heated up after the Golden Globes handed out their awards last night. The Golden Globes marked a decisive night for Emilia Pérez and The Brutalist as the two big winners on the film side, leading with four and three honours, respectively. Emilia Pérez scored Best Picture in a Musical/Comedy after a record-setting 10 nominations. The win also proved a first for Netflix in the category. The streamer previously took the dramatic equivalent for The Power of the Dog (2021).
Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard handed the duty of accepting the big prize to star Karla Sofía Gascón, who was nominated for her performance in the title role and made history as the first open transgender performer nominated at the Globes. Although Gascón lost Best Actress to Demi Moore (The Substance) in one of the night’s most competitive races and in one of many upsets (more on those in a second), she ended the show on a high note by unapologetically staking a claim for trans rights and representation. “The light always wins over darkness,” she said. “I am who I am. Not who you want.”
Audiard’s film bookended the Globes telecast with Zoe Saldaña kicking off the event by winning Best Supporting Actress for her turn as a lawyer who helps facilitate Emilia Pérez’s transition. Saldaña offered an emotional shout-out to the women of Emilia Pérez, as did Audiard when accepting the prize for Best Non-English Film—another first in Globes history as the French crime-musical scored the international prize in addition to Best Picture, a feat not matched by favourites including Roma and Oscar winner Parasite. The film’s fourth win was in the Best Song category for “El Mal,” an energetic rap number performed by Saldaña and Gascón, written and composed by Camille and Clément Ducot and Audiard.
On the dramatic side, The Brutalist scored Best Picture, Best Director for Brady Corbet, and Best Actor for Adrien Brody. The Brutalist is an ambitious arthouse epic about a designer who survives the Holocaust and starts life anew in America. Corbet remarked upon the challenges of making a drama about design on 70mm with a run-time over three-and-a-half hours with a budget under $10 million, but applauded the cinephiles who proved there was an appetite for complex adult-oriented movies.
Other winners on the film side included a chorus of upsets in the lead categories. Moore edged out a tight race with Gascón, Anora’s Mikey Madison, and Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo to take the prize for her zany performance as an aging actress who samples a wonder drug to become young again. Moore arguably offered the highlight speech of the night, observing that the Globe was the first prize she’d won in 40-year career and saying that she nearly quit the biz before receiving the script for The Substance from writer/director Coralie Fargeat. That speech, like Gascón’s, offered much-needed fuel in a competitive race before Oscar voting opens on January 8.
Other upsets included Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy for Sebastian Stan in A Different Man. He used his win for playing an actor with neurofibromatosis, which causes facial disfigurement, to call for better representation for people with disabilities.
The biggest upset of the night, however, went to Fernanda Torres in the Best Actress in a Drama race for I’m Still Here. She bested favourites Angelina Jolie (Maria) and Nicole Kidman (Babygirl) to edge out a win for her acclaimed performance in Walter Salles’ drama about a woman fighting to learn what happened to her husband after he was “disappeared” amid Brazil’s military dictatorship. Her win, a first for a Brazilian performer at the Globes, came after her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, was nominated in the category 26 years ago for Salles’ Central Station.
Other winners on the film side included Conclave scribe Peter Straughn for Best Screenplay, Challengers composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Best Score, and Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis’s cat-fuelled odyssey Flow for Best Animated Feature. Meanwhile, Wicked scored a win in the Globes’ new-ish Cinematic and Box Office Achievement category honouring movies that grossed at least $150 million domestically. Director Jon Chu thanked audiences for embracing the film’s “radical optimism.”
The ceremony hosted by Nikki Glaser marked a big comeback for the Golden Globes after some turbulent years, including a major overhaul to the membership roster (full disclosure: I’m a voter), and an absolutely disastrous performance last year by host Jo Koy. Glaser took a different approach and focused on the positive. The result was a notably lighter mood with few cringe-worthy reaction shots, proving that everyone has a better time when nobody is getting punched down.
She delivered one of the better hosting duties of recent memory, something that award shows in general have struggled with—and in some cases, like the SAG Awards, completely abandoned—in the face online mobs who are impossible to please. One could argue that even though Glaser lost her bid in the Golden Globes’ stand-up comedy category, she arguably won the night.
The full list of Golden Globes winners :
Best Picture – Musical or Comedy: Emilia Pérez
Best Picture – Drama: The Brutalist
Cinematic and Box Office Achievement: Wicked
Best Non-English Film: Emilia Pérez (France)
Best Animated Film: Flow
Best Director: Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Best Actor – Drama: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Best Actress – Drama: Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Best Actor – Comedy/Musical: Sebastian Stan, A Different Man
Best Actress – Comedy/Musical: Demi Moore, The Substance
Best Supporting Actor, Film: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Best Supporting Actress, Film: Zoe Saldana, Emilia Pérez
Best Screenplay: Conclave – Peter Straughn
Best Score: Challengers – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Best Song: “El Mal” – Emilia Pérez, Camille, Clément Ducol, Jaques Audiard
Best Comedy Series: Hacks
Best Actor, Comedy Series: Jeremy Allen White, The Bear
Best Actress, Comedy Series: Jean Smart, Hacks
Best Limited or Anthology Series: Baby Reindeer
Best Drama Series: Shōgun
Best Actor, Drama Series: Hiroyuki Sanada, Shōgun
Best Actress, Drama Series: Anna Sawai, Shōgun
Best Limited or Anthology Series: Baby Reindeer
Best Actor, Limited/Anthology: Colin Farrell, The Penguin
Best Actress, Limited/Anthology: Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country
Best Supporting Actor, Television: Tadanobu Asano, Shōgun
Best Supporting Actress, Television: Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer
Best Performance in a Stand-up Comedy: Ali Wong, Single Lady