Tarantino and 1917 Win Top Prizes At The 77th Annual Golden Globes (AWARDS 2019)

Jeff Huston

Some awards season narratives were locked while others remained wide open. In other words, the eclectic mix of winners was par for the course at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The disparity was notable in the two top prizes: Best Picture Drama and Best Picture Musical or Comedy. The latter was won by Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood, the movie that may finally give Quentin Tarantino Academy Awards for Best Picture and Director. Tarantino also took the Globe for Best Screenplay.

The Drama prize was taken by 1917, the World War I so-called “one shot” movie that also garnered a Best Director prize for Sam Mendes. Beating Netflix heavyweights like The Irishman (which went home empty-handed) and Marriage Story may help vault 1917 from mere Oscar contender to a top front-runner.

Meanwhile, Brad Pitt and Laura Dern could safely start crafting their Oscar speeches tomorrow for the Academy’s two supporting categories. The two have racked up wins all season long for their roles in Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood and Marriage Story, and the Globes kept both of those trains rolling.

The four lead acting categories — two for Drama, two for Musical or Comedy — had its own mix of surprises and favorites. In Musical or Comedy, Academy Award long shots Taron Egerton and Awkwafina got Globe gold for their performances in Rocketman and The Farewell.

Meanwhile in the Drama categories, likely Oscar nominees Joaquin Phoenix and Renée Zellweger won for Joker and Judy, although their rough acceptance speeches may ding their future chances more than help them. Even so, it’d be quite a feat for DC Comics and Warner Bros. if Phoenix becomes the second actor to win an Academy Award for playing Batman’s most famous nemesis, following Heath Ledger’s posthumous win for his nihilistic take on the Clown Prince of Crime in 2008’s The Dark Knight.

Joker also took home the prize for Best Original Score; Hildur Guðnadóttir won for her haunting work.

As far as the host, Ricky Gervais was Ricky Gervais. Rude. Abrasive. Taking low blows. Enjoying every minute of it.

Regardless of what you may think of his style of insult comedy, I’ve never felt it was a good fit for an awards show. The atmosphere of those events is supposed to be celebratory, not an environment where everyone in the room is on edge over who may be insulted next, and how severely.

Gervais capped off his monologue with a smug lecture, too, which can be as eye-rolling as some of the political soapboxing he chided. These people disgust you. You’re better than them because you own your privilege. We get it.

The real kicker: with his approach, Gervais ends up making the whole thing about himself. That’s the last thing a host should ever do. I may even agree with some of his sentiments, but the awards show stage is not the time or place. Save it for an op-ed, or the stand up stage. Not an industry gala honoring hard work.

Thankfully, career achievement honorees Tom Hanks and Ellen DeGeneres were the perfect counter for that, each humbly expressing their gratitude in personal, poignant speeches that conveyed their ideals with sincerity rather than sanctimony.

(Click here for the Globe television winners.)

77th GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS
Films of 2019

Best Motion Picture – Drama
WINNER: 1917

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
WINNER: Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood

Best Male Performance in a Motion Picture – Drama
WINNER: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Best Female Performance in a Motion Picture – Drama
WINNER: Renée Zellweger, Judy

Best Male Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
WINNER: Taron Egerton, Rocketman

Best Female Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
WINNER: Awkwafina , The Farewell

  • Ana de Armas, Knives Out
  • Cate Blanchett, Where’d You Go, Bernadette?
  • Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart
  • Emma Thompson, Late Night

Best Male Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture
WINNER: Brad Pitt, Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood

Best Female Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture
WINNER: Laura Dern, Marriage Story

Best Director
WINNER: Sam Mendes, 1917

Best Screenplay
WINNER: Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino

Best Original Score
WINNER: Joker, Hildur Guðnadóttir

Best Original Song
WINNER: “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” / Rocketman – Elton John & Bernie Taupin

  • “Beautiful Ghosts” / Cats – Taylor Swift & Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • “Into the Unknown” /  Frozen II – Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez
  • “Spirit” / The Lion King – Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Timothy McKenzie & Ilya Salmanzadeh
  • “Stand Up” / Harriet – Joshuah Brian Campbell & Cynthia Erivo

Best Animated Feature Film
WINNER: Missing Link

Best Foreign Language Film
WINNER: Parasite (South Korea)

  • The Farewell (China)
  • Pain and Glory (Spain)
  • Portrait of a Lady on Fire (France)
  • Les Misérables (France)

The Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award
– Tom Hanks

The Carol Burnett Career Achievement in Television Award
– Ellen DeGeneres

(Click here for the Globe television winners.)

Click on links below for other Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far for the 2019 / 20 season:

Screen Actors Guild Award Winners
Producers Guild of America Winners
Critics’ Choice Awards Winners
Directors Guild of America Nominations
Writers Guild of America Nominations
National Society of Film Critics
Dallas/Fort-Worth Film Critics Association
Boston Society of Film Critics
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
AFI American Film Institute Awards
New York Film Critics Circle
National Board of Review
Atlanta Film Critics Circle

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