The Golden Globes have officially kicked off the 2024 awards season. It was a triumphant night for Christopher Nolan and his latest movie Oppenheimer, which walked away with five trophies including the coveted Best Picture (Drama).
The acclaimed movie dramatises the tortured birth of the atomic bomb, broke box office records and, in line with fellow Globes contender Barbie, gave rise to last summer's 'Barbenheimer' phenomenon. Oppenheimer has made history again by winning Nolan his first-ever Golden Globe for Best Director.
Nolan's Globes win would appear to secure him as the favourite for the Best Director Oscar category. Remarkably, Nolan had never even been Oscar-nominated before the release of 2017's Dunkirk. All eyes are now on the Oscar nominations that will be announced on January 23rd.
And the Oppenheimer wins didn't stop there. Cillian Murphy also won his first-ever Golden Globe award, seizing Best Actor (Drama) for his sixth collaboration with Nolan. Composer Ludwig Goransson walked away with his second Golden Globe, validation of the movie's teeming, angular and arresting soundscape.
Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. nabbed Best Supporting Actor (Drama) and delivered a typically irreverent awards speech, which you can watch below.
Oppenheimer's combination of critical acclaim, box office success and emergent awards prestige now makes it a firm favourite to sweep the Oscars in March. That said, the competition is likely to remain fierce as things heat up.
In the Best Picture (Drama) field, Nolan's movie defeated Martin Scorsese's mammoth historical epic Killers of the Flower Moon and Celine Song's bittersweet ode to longing, Past Lives, among others.
That said, Killers of the Flower Moon did land a Best Actress (Drama) trophy for Lily Gladstone, her first. Gladstone's role as the conflicted Anna is widely regarded as the movie's centerpiece and she delivered her acceptance speech in the language of her indigenous Blackfeet tribe.
In the dramatic field, Gladstone fended off the likes of Greta Lee for Past Lives and Sandra Huller for the riveting courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall. If it was a disappointing night overall for Past Lives with no trophies taken home then Anatomy of a Fall fared much better with wins for Best Motion Picture - Non-English Language and Best Screenplay for writer-director Justine Triet.
This year saw the creation of a brand-new Golden Globes category: Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. This field looks to reward the crowd-pleasing blockbusters that have reinforced the immersive magic of the big-screen experience and it's perhaps little surprise that the award went to Barbie.
Greta Gerwig's endearing pastel-pink comedy riffs on the history of the Mattel icon and stands as the most commercially successful movie of 2023. It's also the highest-grossing film in distributor Warner Bros.' 100-year history, not to mention the highest-grossing film ever from a female filmmaker at the US box office.
Barbie was a shoo-in for Best Original Song given it had three nominations in that particular category. Ultimately, Billie Eilish and Finneas' 'What Was I Made For?' clinched the trophy, beating 'Dance The Night' (credited to Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, Dua Lipa and Caroline Ailin), and 'I’m Just Ken' (credited to Ronson and Andrew Wyatt).
In terms of total awards won it was, perhaps, a light evening for Yorgos Lanthimos' marvelously offbeat black comedy Poor Things. Lanthimos missed out on the Best Director trophy. However, the critically lauded movie did win the prestigious Best Picture - Musical or Comedy and Emma Stone capitalised on her status as the bookie's favourite, winning Best Actress - Musical or Comedy.
Stone's performance is the beating heart and driving force of Lanthimos' surrealist odyssey, which hits Cineworld on January 12th. She plays Bella Baxter, a childlike adult who sets out to discover her identity in a bizarre steampunk, retro-future world.
What then ensues is both jaw-dropping and insightful, Bella's awakening being used to interrogate notions of liberation, sexuality and equality. If you're an Unlimited member, click here to book for the preview screening on January 9th.
Finally, Alexander Payne's delightful dramedy The Holdovers won acting awards for Paul Giamatti (Best Actor - Comedy or Musical) and Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Best Supporting Actress - Musical or Comedy).
The movie is released at Cineworld on January 15th and has been hailed as Payne's return to form. Giamatti, in his first collaboration with Payne since 2004's classic Sideways, plays a crabby, smelly 1970s university professor who is compelled to look after a group of outcast students during the Christmas holidays.
Joy Randolph is the warm counterpoint to Giamatti's amusing grumpiness, playing the college's warm-hearted yet grieving on-site cook. The movie's award success is further proof of Payne's status as an actor's director, and someone who can coax equal parts laughs and tears.
So, where does this leave us in terms of the upcoming Oscars? As indicated, Oppenheimer's success at the Golden Globes could be a barometer of potential wins at the Academy Awards.
The caveat of course is that the Golden Globes split the difference between Drama and Comedy. The Oscars possess no such distinctions, so it's very much still all to play for as Oppenheimer continues to fight the likes of Barbie, Poor Things and The Holdovers.
Maybe there will be a dark horse incoming, like Past Lives? Celine Song's luminous movie has been ignored at the Globes but could secure surprise wins at the Oscars. The nominations will point the way and they're announced on January 23rd.
Click the link below for the full list of Golden Globe winners.
DISCOVER GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS 2024
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