h. nazan ışık—
January 13, 2014—
Like anything else, the Awards Season comes and goes. How important are the awards? Should we take them so seriously? Especially the Golden Globes!
The Golden Globe Awards have come, created excitements as the first of the big and famous award ceremonies, and passed. They are given to films and television productions by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA): foreign journalists who cover the entertainment industry.
I don’t understand why the HFPA always awards Best Motion Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress in Drama, and Musical or Comedy categories, but Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress in only one insignificant category.
Let’s look at the complete list of Golden Globe nominees and the winners in these categories.
Best Motion Picture, Drama
*12 Years a Slave (Winner)
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena
Rush
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
*Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club (Winner)
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Idris Elba, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Robert Redford, All Is Lost
This was not a big surprise. In Hollywood if an actor/actress gains/loses weight or otherwise changes his/her appearance, it seems to increase the odds of their being awarded the prize. Or so it seem from the past examples of Robert De Niro (Raging Bull), Tom Hanks (Philadelphia), Adrien Brody (The Pianist) Charlize Theron (Monster), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), and Nicole Kidman (The Hours), Matthew McConaughey who portrayed an AIDS patient, lost 47 pounds for the role.
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
*Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine (Winner)
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
Kate Winslet, Labor Day
Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
*American Hustle (Winner)
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
The Wolf of Wall Street
I am not sure how exactly HFPA members select films for this category. Though Her and Nebraska contain comic elements, should they be considered “comedies”? In my opinion, they shouldn’t be. They offer more than that, they are deeper than just being comedies.
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
*Amy Adams, American Hustle (Winner)
Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Enough Said
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
*Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street (Winner)
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Joaquin Phoenix, Her
This award surprised me. Even though I wanted Joaquin Phoenix or Bruce Dern to win, I thought Christian Bale would have won because he had gained 43 pounds for the role.
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
*Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle (Winner)
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska
My favorite for this category was June Squibb for her scintillating performance in Nebraska.
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
*Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club (Winner)
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Daniel Bruhl, Rush
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Jared Letowas no surprise. He transformed himself completely, playing a transgender woman who is HIV-positive and he did it brilliantly. Besides he lost almost 40 pounds for this role.
Best Director – Motion Picture
*Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity (Winner)
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
*Spike Jonze, Her (Winner)
Bob Nelson, Nebraska
Jeff Pope and Steve Coogan, Philomena
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer, American Hustle
Best Foreign Language Film
*The Great Beauty (Italy)(Winner)
Blue Is the Warmest Color (France)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Past (Iran)
The Wind Rises (Japan)
This was a well-deserved Golden Globe for The Great Beauty. It is one of the best movies I have seen this year.
Why the HFPA nominated The Wind Rises in this “Best Foreign Language Film” section has puzzled me a little. “The Wind Rises is an animation. Yes, it is a foreign language film, but it is an animation. And the HFPA has “Best Animated Feature Film” category to award an animated film.
Well, the winners got their Golden Globes.
It is a busy and an entertaining season for everyone. The list of coming events is long: from the first awards which were given by the New York Film Critics on December 3rd to the 86th Academy Awards on March 2nd — a list including Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild (SAG), The British Academy of Film and Televisions Arts (BAFTA) — there arefourteen award ceremonies I counted. After each ceremony probably everyone -especially the lady nominees- start to plan what to wear for the next award ceremonies, since this season is not only the awards season, it is also a fashion statement season.
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