Alternative Film Guide

The smaller, shorter, subdued’er 2008 Golden Globe "news show" — a result of the ongoing WGA strike, now entering its tenth week — ended not too long ago. There was no red carpet, no dress parade, no dumb questions from journalists, no mind-numbing speeches, no godawful jokes, no poorly staged musical numbers, no toilet paper stuck on anyone’s shoe.

Many have lamented this year’s loss of glamour, glitz, and tasteless jokes. But personally, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Much to the contrary. I find the vast majority of those glitzy and glamorous — and tasteless and phony — award shows all but unwatchable, and the Golden Globes ceremony is one of the tackiest around. This year, I actually managed to watch a full 20 minutes of the one-hour Globe newscast — probably a historical record — before I got bored and began looking for the winners online.

Now, having said all that I wonder how the Golden Globe audience would have reacted when Julian Schnabel was named the winner of the best director award for the French-language triumph-of-the-human-spirit drama The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, when everyone predicted Joel and Ethan Coen as the surefire winners for No Country for Old Men. (The Coen brothers were given a consolation prize, the best screenplay Globe.)

Or their reaction when Atonement, a romantic drama that has received precious little love from U.S. film critics’ groups and no love whatsoever from the Screen Actors Guild, was voted the best film of the year in place of favorites No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Indeed, despite its seven nominations — more than any other film this year — Atonement was hardly a front-runner; it ended up winning only one other Globe, for Dario Marianelli’s score.

Or when Marion Cotillard (above), not Ellen Page, was named best actress in a comedy or musical for her performance as Edith Piaf in La Vie en rose (which happens to be neither a comedy nor a musical). Like Schnabel’s, Cotillard’s victory was particularly surprising because even though the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has nominated foreign productions in regular categories every now and then, those films — and their talent — hardly ever win. After all, the HFPA awards are geared to the American film industry. (Non-English-language films, for instance, are ineligible for the best film drama/comedy or musical categories.)

Among this year’s other surprises were the HFPA’s choice of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as best comedy or musical — over Jason Reitman’s more popular and better received Juno — and, to a lesser extent, the choice of best supporting actress Cate Blanchett, as one of the many Bob Dylan incarnations in I’m Not There, instead of Amy Ryan’s rotten mom in Gone Baby Gone. Ryan, a two-time Tony nominee, has been the favorite among U.S. critics’ groups.

Among the predictable winners were Julie Christie as best actress in a drama for her performance as a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in Sarah Polley’s Away from Her; Daniel Day-Lewis (right) as best actor in a drama for his star turn as a greedy oil baron in Paul Thomas Anderson’s widely praised There Will Be Blood; and Johnny Depp as best actor in a comedy or musical for his singing serial-killing barber in Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. (Depp was the only American actor to win in the feature film categories.)

Also, Brad Bird’s Ratatouille, the story of a French rat with gourmet inclinations, as best animated film; and best supporting actor Javier Bardem for his mad killer in No Country for Old Men — as per newscast co-presenter Billy Bush (of Access Hollywood), one of the greatest screen villains ever, "in a category with Darth Vader." (That remark came out quite spontaneously and Bush meant it seriously — is he related to the current White House boarder? — which made it funnier than just about any well-rehearsed awards ceremony joke.)

In the television section of the Globes, film personalities were also in evidence: five-time Academy Award nominee Glenn Close was chosen best actress in a television series - drama for Damages; two-time Academy Award nominee Samantha Morton was the best supporting actress for Longford; and Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent and Academy Award nominee Queen Latifah were the best actor and best actress in a mini-series or TV movie for, respectively, Longford and Life Support.

Julie Christie’s win was her first. She had been nominated twice before, in 1965 for Darling (she won the Oscar but lost the Globe to Samantha Eggar for The Collector) and in 1975 for Shampoo (she lost to Ann-Margret for Tommy).

Daniel Day-Lewis’s win was also his first. He had four previous nominations: in 1989 for My Left Foot (he won the Oscar but lost the Globe to Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July), in 1993 for In the Name of the Father (he lost to Tom Hanks in Philadelphia), in 1997 for The Boxer (he lost to Peter Fonda in Ulee’s Gold), and in 2002 for Gangs of New York (he lost to Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt).

Johnny Depp was another veteran Golden Globe nominee who won his first award this year, after losing out the statuette seven times — including in each of the last four years.

And before I wrap this up… (No, I’m not going to come up with any by now tired I’m Not There-Actors Were Not There jokes.)

Who cares about the Golden Globes?

Now, that’s a stupid question. Ask people who’ve ever won or been nominated for one. Ask film studios and distributors, who plaster their "For Your Consideration" ads with "nominated for XYZ Golden Globes" notices. Ask film exhibitors, who see a box-office bump — sometimes big, sometimes not so big but a bump nevertheless — following the awards announcements. And ask Academy members who watched their, say, Atonement or Juno or Sweeney Todd screeners because of those films’ multiple Golden Globe nominations. (A Golden Globe win won’t make a difference for the Oscar nominations because Academy ballots were due yesterday afternoon.)

But are the Golden Globes a barometer of quality?

Now, that’s another stupid question. What film award-giving entity is a "barometer of quality"? Critics’ groups? The Academy and its Spanish, French, Mexican, etc. cousins? Any of the myriad juries of the world’s myriad film festivals?

Your chances of watching a quality — whatever you think embodies "quality" — Golden Globe winner are most likely no worse than your chances of watching a quality Oscar or Palme d’Or or New York Film Critics Circle award winner. Scary, perhaps, but true.

See also, the 2008 Golden Globes and the WGA Strike: Steven Zeitchik and Kimberly Nordyke’s "Golden Globes now a media free-for-all" in The Hollywood Reporter

Golden Globe photo: © NBC

 

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