Bright and early on Monday morning in Los Angeles, the Golden Globes announced their nominations for the best in film and television. The Globes are a key stop on the awards trail as the embattled show starts a new chapter with a revamped membership and a major new broadcast deal on CBS.
The group’s choices this year were a little less weird than typical, rather affirming most of the season’s Oscar front-runners and biggest shows on the air. This means that most of the surprises were more delightful than puzzling, leaving fewer true snubs than usual—even though, as ever, we had a few eyebrow-raising misses. Read on below for the picks that stood out the most.
SNUB: The Color Purple in Best Picture (Musical/Comedy)
In isolation, relative to the Academy, the Golden Globes do not mean a ton. One can do very well with the group or very poorly and not have their Oscar standing particularly impacted. But this snub feels significant. If The Color Purple could not manage a best-picture nomination with the awards body all but built to honor it—that is, a splashy, starry musical based on an iconic cultural property—then its absence, combined with similar snubs from the National Board of Review and American Film Institute, indicates it’s in serious trouble to make that final Oscar lineup. Globes voters did make room for stars Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks, the latter of whom, at least, appears well-positioned for her first Oscar nod. But this is one title officially in the danger zone.
SURPRISE: Gary Oldman, Slow Horses, in Best Male Actor (Drama)
Slow Horses has been one of the best-reviewed dramas on TV across its three seasons on streaming, but the Gary Oldman vehicle has flown under the awards radar, given that it’s the kind of well-executed spy thriller not taken especially seriously in the prestige space. But Oldman’s terrific lead turn got some breakthrough recognition on Monday with a Globe nomination, notably over a fellow Apple TV+ competitor—who was far more heavily campaigned—in Hijack’s Idris Elba. Still, the category will surely come down to one of three Succession nominees, as that HBO juggernaut prepares for its swan song.
SURPRISE: Joe Hisaishi, The Boy and the Heron and Mica Levi, The Zone of Interest, in Best Original Score
The Globes’ categories for best score and song have typically highlighted big pop names in the world of music, but voters went in a far artier direction than usual when it came to honoring composers this year. Alongside the heavy hitters—the scores of Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon remain front-runners—the race had room for the haunting themes of The Zone of Interest by Mica Levi and the soft, gorgeous work of Joe Hisaishi in The Boy and the Heron. The latter’s recognition is especially welcome, with the Japanese musical icon finally receiving a major nomination here in the US. But both are among the best of the year, and this marks key momentum.
SURPRISE: All the Light We Cannot See in Best Limited Series, Anthology Series, or TV Movie
One of the worst-reviewed limited series of the year—that’s just going by the numbers—All the Light We Cannot See still had enough might, as one of Netflix’s most popular shows of the fall, to squeeze into the limited-series category. It’s the only nomination for the blockbuster adaptation, though, as its cast (which includes Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie) was ignored.
SURPRISE: Past Lives in Best Non-English-Language Film
Based on a long-standing—and controversial—technicality, A24’s top Oscar contender Past Lives was somehow included in the best-non-English-language feature race, despite being an American film with both English and Korean dialogue. You’ll recall a similar situation around the American dramedy The Farewell, which was filmed in China, or more recently the entirely US-set Minari. Back then, the Globes had an archaic rule that disqualified movies prominently featuring languages other than English from competing in top best-picture categories. Outcry finally changed that, and we can breathe a little easier knowing Past Lives was one of the most beloved movies of the year overall with the Golden Globes—scoring nominations for best picture (drama), director, screenplay, and acting. Still, this continues to be a very strange shape for an international-film category.
SNUB: Napoleon
The Globes love Ridley Scott—he even got a best-director nomination for All the Money in the World—but his epic biopic was snubbed across the board today, a grim sign after it met mixed reviews last month. The film’s best awards shot going forward likely rests in the technical categories, but you have to think the campaign had hopes that Joaquin Phoenix or his scene-stealing costar Vanessa Kirby could gain some traction here.
SURPRISE: Joaquin Phoenix, Beau Is Afraid, in Best Male Actor (Musical or Comedy)
So yeah, the Globes did not like Napoleon. But apparently, they weren’t against honoring a long, unwieldy, tonally ambitious Joaquin Phoenix vehicle—they just went for the movie that was even longer and even weirder. Phoenix’s tour de force of misery in Ari Aster’s polarizing Beau Is Afraid got a nomination for best male actor in a comedy/musical, beating out relatively conventional—if still worthy—work from fellow past Globes winners like Jamie Foxx and Gael García Bernal. The Globes were not afraid.
SURPRISE: Alma Pöysti, Fallen Leaves, in Best Female Actor (Musical or Comedy)
Here’s our clearest indication of how the Golden Globes’ membership may have really, meaningfully changed. The comedy-film acting categories have long existed as an excuse to recognize big stars in lesser projects—lest we forget that Tourist lovefest—and this year, they had a range of names to choose from. Yet in a brilliantly deserved left turn, Alma Pöysti—the lovely star of the terrific Finnish Oscar entry, Fallen Leaves—was recognized for best female actor in a comedy/musical right alongside some of Hollywood’s most famous faces, including Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence, and Natalie Portman.
SURPRISE: Woody Harrelson, White House Plumbers, in Best Male Actor (Limited Series, Anthology Series, or TV Movie)
White House Plumbers marked a rare miss for HBO as its big spring limited series failed to connect with both viewers and critics; it was snubbed entirely by the Emmys. But the juicy performances in this darkly comic Watergate retelling met affection from the Golden Globes, with voters singling out Woody Harrelson’s deadpan portrayal of CIA officer E. Howard Hunt.
SNUB: Golden Globes Chaos
It’s hard to deny this is an unusually respectable, thoughtful, interesting list of nominees from the Golden Globes, which have worked very hard to expand their membership. Still, longtime followers of the chaotic awards show were likely expecting—hoping for?—a little delightful mess in this year’s list. Wonka or Saltburn for best picture? George Clooney in best director for The Boys in the Boat? Alas, as the revamped Globes forge ahead on CBS, those days might be behind them. But again, we’ll never forget The Tourist.
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