GOLDEN GLOBES 2018 RECAP

With another night of memorable speeches in a room full of Hollywood's most notable actors and filmmakers of the year, this year's Golden Globes have come to a close. The soirée was made significant not only because it was the ceremony's 75th anniversary, but it was also used to make a statement about the TIME'S UP movement, an initiative promoting awareness against sexual harassment. Attendees showed up wearing black in solidarity, and a handful also brought activists as their dates.

As the host, Seth Meyers wasn't too much of a presence throughout the show, but he did have a pretty poignant opening. He started off pretty bluntly, making some uncomfortable jokes (a joke about booing at Harvey Weinstein's future "in memoriam" was not something people were ready to comply with), but he did mostly garner laughs. His back-and-forth with Amy Poehler was pretty clever, and he ended on a sincere note that resonated with the issues being recognized that night.

The beginning of the show was mostly spent on giving out the television awards, with Big Little Lies making a predictable but deserved sweep in the limited series categories. The film award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama was given to Sam Rockwell (Willem deserved more!), starting what was only the beginning of a winning streak for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. 

James Franco won for Best Actor in a Comedy for The Disaster Artist and delivered a wonderful speech aimed at his brother and co-star, whom he brought on stage with him, but not before recognizing his character's real-life counterpart Tommy Wiseau, whom Franco had to stop from stealing the mic (poor Tommy).

The night's award for Best Score went to Alexandre Desplat for his beautiful work in The Shape of Water, and I won't even talk about Best Song because we all know that without Sufjan Stevens? It's not worth our time.

The award for Best Screenplay found its way into Martin McDonagh's hands for Three Billboards, and while the script was good, it wasn't great--it was a win that belonged to Greta Gerwig; Lady Bird was arguably one of the year's most well-received screenplays. Lady Bird was also snubbed for the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy award, which was awarded to I, Tonya's Allison Janney as opposed to Laurie Metcalf. Long story short, McDonagh's win was one of the disappointing ones.

But shortly thereafter, we were all blessed with Oprah Winfrey's 9-minute speech in acceptance of the Cecil B. Demille Award. After sharing her own experience of witnessing Sidney Poitier win the Oscar for Best Actor as a little girl, Winfrey recognized her own position as the first black woman to ever receive the award being presented to her. She also shared the story of Recy Taylor, who in 1944 was sexually assaulted on her way home from church, shedding light on the impact that the TIME'S UP movement can have on anyone. "And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say 'Me too' again." 

The award for Best Director was then presented, with a snarky comment from Natalie Portman about the "all-male nominees." She had a point--there were many overlooked directors, in particular Lady Bird's Greta Gerwig. However, not all hope was lost. The award was deservedly given to Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water, who thanked all the women who made his film possible and noted he had been working for 25 years only to get recognition now (and he wasn't about to let the "wrap it up" music take that away from him).

The night continued on a positive note when Saoirse Ronan took home the award for Best Actress in a Comedy, giving Lady Bird its first win of the night (bless!). Lady Bird also went on to win Best Comedy, for which Greta Gerwig delivered a speech with such emotion that made me a little bit teary-eyed, I won't lie. 

But the night took a disappointing turn once again when Gary Oldman was awarded Best Actor in a Drama for Darkest Hour. It would've been refreshing for Timothée Chalamet, who has been consistently praised for his performance in Call Me By Your Name, to take home this year's award, and for many (myself included) he was the favourite to win last night. He's been racking up most other awards this year when pitted against Oldman, so I think it's fair to say he was robbed. 

Frances McDormand won Best Actress in a Drama, and I must say this is the one Three Billboards win I was genuinely happy about--she carried that movie and I think it's fair to say it would not have received the same level of acclaim without her. Three Billboards went on to win Best Drama, which wasn't much of a surprise by the end of the night. I personally would have loved to see Call Me By Your Name take it, but my other pick, which I thought had a much stronger chance given it was the most-nominated picture of the night, was The Shape of Water. 

Alongside Big Little Lies, Three Billboards was oddly the big winner of the night. It isn't that it wasn't a good film, because it was: but to consider it the best of the best was a bit of a stretch for me. I feel like the overtness of its political themes made the HFPA feel it was suitable to be a centrepiece of the night, but the film is admittedly quite problematic in parts when it comes to addressing these themes, and in addition, there are some loose plot ends and character details that arguably could have been handled much better. 

But it's important to remember that the Golden Globes are not a great indicator of future awards and accolades, so hopefully we will see some of these disappointments rectified at the Critics' Choice Awards this upcoming Thursday.