Netflix’s musical drama film Emilia Pérez and A24’s grandiose tale The Brutalist were among the nominated frontrunners at this year’s Golden Globes. With the Jacques’ Audiard-directed Emilia Pérez entering the night with ten nominations, the most for any project.
The Golden Globes are an annual ceremony held to honor achievement in international film and television, and oftentimes are a good indicator of which projects will continue to win big at succeeding award ceremonies, i.e. The Academy Awards.
Emilia Pérez took home multiple awards: Best Picture – Non-English Language, Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldaña), and Best Original Song (“El Mal”). Saldaña beat out her high-contending peers for the Supporting Actress award, including Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez), Ariana Grande (Wicked), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Margaret Qualley (The Substance), and Isabella Rossellini (Conclave). Each of the nominated actresses has already received continuous Oscar buzz. Saldaña’s, and Emilia Pérez‘s leading success at the Globes could be a pacemaker for the rest of the season.
Speaking of actresses, Demi Moore had too scored a Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) recognition for her work in the obtrusive, though important, body horror picture The Substance, a Mubi film directed by Coralie Fargeat. Moore gave an impressive and emotional speech, highlighting how the award was her first recognition in her decade-spanning career. With the Oscars following a trend of highlighting seasoned actors for their monumental comebacks in recent years (think Key Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, and Brendan Fraser), it’s not a foreign thought that Moore’s win and speech could catapult her toward more Lead Actress awards, especially over newer Hollywood faces Mikey Madison (Anora), Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), and Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez).
A24’s three-and-a-half hour-long American-dream-inspired epic, The Brutalist, was able to snag a few impressive accolades as well, such as Best Picture – Drama, Best Actor – Drama (Adrien Brody), as well as the Best Director recognition for Brady Corbet. Corbet’s picture was shot in the technical marvel VistaVision and features an intermission break halfway through for theater audiences, marking the film as a visual as well as experimental feat. Other directors included in the category, and the entire award’s season conversation, included Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), Sean Baker (Anora), Edward Berger (Conclave), Coralie Fargeat (The Substance), and Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine As Light). The Brutalist inspires an honest look at the fascinating, yet fragile, American dream: an important topic voters may feel typical to highlight at the glamorous and classicly American Academy Awards.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross took home the award for Best Score for their work in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, beating out other monuments in sound this year by Hans Zimmer (Dune: Part Two), Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist), and Kris Bowers (The Wild Robot), to name a few. The Challengers score has been one highly lauded to win the award as well as its upcoming counterparts.
On the more surprising side, films such as Wicked, Conclave, and Anora, go home with little, if anything at all. Wicked garnered the unique Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award, an award given to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie in its inaugural year. The accolade seems to follow a newer trend at the Globes: an award given to a film voters may otherwise have trouble placing into another deserving category. However, the critical and audience reception of the beloved musical has earned the film and its cast their rightful place on stage at ceremonies. Focus Features’ Pope-drama Conclave wins the highly-coveted Best Screenplay award, and Sean Baker’s brave and glitzy Anora leaves empty-handed.
These films on the shorter-hand had gone into the season with high talks and speculation to win, with Mikey Madison as Anora’s titular character as one of the leads in the Best Actress conversation since her debut to audiences just a few months ago. However, all hope is not at all lost, as the Critic’s Choice Awards will be held this Sunday, January 12th. Any wins here might still spark a fire in any much-needed Oscars campaigns.
Oscar nominations officially come out on January 17th, 2025, so it is still anyone’s game when it comes to the highly contested Academy Awards. The ceremony is officially held on March 2nd, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.
Leave a Comment