When in Casablanca Captain Renault was cynically exalted because he was betting in Rick’s cafe, while they handed him his winnings, I unknowingly believed the best definition of Hollywood. When the attacks on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association began, the industry became the perfect Renault. What a scandal!
Two years later, the redemption of the Golden Globes has arrived, in one of those emotional journeys that the film industry loves so much. And that this transition, which the president of a club that has 96 members and that is looking for new members from various minorities described as a “year of disruption”, has been promoted by Eldridge Industries, the company that also owns The Hollywood Reporter that has bought the awards, and that it is converting the gala from a non-profit organization into a commercial enterprise. So there will be no doubts: everything can be bought and sold. Although it must be recognized that the association (HFPA, its acronym in English) has been successful in almost all its awards after some shameful nominations (another house brand). That Los Fabelmans and Inisherin’s Banshee won the main awards gives a quality patina to a film record that allowed itself some horrendous decision, such as best actor in a drama for Austin Butler for Elvis. By the way, in the transformation of him into the Memphis singer, Butler has appropriated the tone of his voice, and at the press conference with an award in hand he didn’t even blush when he recognized it.
Colin Farrell and Martin McDonagh pose at the end of the Golden Globes ceremony. CAROLINE BREHMAN (EFE)
In this two-way drama / comedy and musical in which the Golden Globes move, the almost two hundred voters (to the 96 members of the HFPA have been added 103 international voters “to increase their diversity”, they say) have played well the tricks. If The Fabelmans, the fresco that Steven Spielberg has painted from his adolescence, won best drama film, his creator also received the award for best direction. If Inisherin’s Banshee, another curious inquiry into friendship sculpted by the talented Martin McDonagh, won in comedy and musical, McDonagh himself won best screenplay, and one of his performers, Colin Farrell—another example of redemption and overcoming vital errors that has been, on the other hand, little by little confirming his quality in a devastating curriculum—, the best comedy and musical actor.
The rest of the awards, beyond Butler’s slip, were meticulously timed to recognize minority, quality, indie and major studio work, and international creators. It wouldn’t even have turned out better. All at once everywhere, a comic and cosmic high of delirious science fiction, won in comedy and musical actress (Michelle Yeoh) and supporting actor (Ke Huy Quan, the boy from The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the temple of doom turned in fifty with march); for Disney/Marvel there was an award with Angela Bassett as secondary in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; for Netflix, best song for RRR and best animated film, Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro. And finally, due to the quality of the film and the hard work of two of its producers, Axel Kuschevatzky and Victoria Alonso (Marvel provost), Argentina, 1985, by Santiago Mitre, won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. If even the tribute went to Eddie Murphy, who never won his long-awaited Oscar, but who received the fervent applause of the attendees with a self-laudatory speech from his seniority that ended with a sharp joke about the risk of mentioning “the wife of Will Smith ”. The other debatable statuette was the one for best soundtrack, for Justin Hurwitz for Babylon, whose score is born from the leftovers of La La Land.
Absences
There were conspicuous absences of artists. When the nominations were made public, few of the candidates celebrated; Not so the studios, which taunted them in the advertisements for their films. The industry wants vigorous Golden Globes in which its stars walk with their hearts of palm (there are no technical awards). Even the pregala was left in the hands of Variety, which broadcast it online. And since the actors’ union awards -the SAG if they serve as a thermometer prior to the Oscars- are not televised and the Critics Choice (which takes place next Monday) is a brothel similar to the Globes, Hollywood played a retreat, and a ballroom at the Beverly Hilton hotel were almost all the stars… except Tom Cruise and Brendan Fraser, as was already known, and a handful of winners: Cate Blanchett (best actress in a drama for Tar), Amanda Seyfried, Zendaya or Kevin Costner. Only Costner had a defensible excuse: the brutal storm that hit part of California last night was especially baited in Santa Barbara, where the actor lives. The rest may have cautious advertisers. Or that you don’t believe in sponsored redemptions.
