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Golden Globes 2019: themes in all directions

Glenn Close, Golden Globes
Glenn Close receives 2019 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Film.
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Monday, January 7, 2019

~ by Mary P Brooke, West Shore Voice News

While there were some highlights, overall the 2019 Golden Globes held in Hollywood last night lacked some of the power and steam of previous Globes evenings. Lots of awards in all directions, a bit of a catch-up year, no focus.

Themes were many, in all directions: women, inclusion, TV vs film, new award categories. TV awards were spread across a whole host of programs, with just two shows winning more than a single award (they each won two).

Lady Gaga won the 2019 Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

A few oddities … Christian Bale thanking Satan for inspiration, Lady Gaga winning for best original song but the rest of the movie bringing home nothing despite its box office success, and Carol Burnett winning The Carol Burnett Award. And there was some quiet thunder: Netflix productions winning five notable awards, as the industry renegade continues to gain ground their own way in the film industry.

Long-time actress Glenn Close made a mark on the evening with her acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama), for her performance in The Wife. Now 45 years in the entertainment business, Close had heard her mother say at age 80 that she’d sublimated her whole life to marriage, and that it was “not so right”.

So it was odd that this simplistic, not-so-new statement by Close in this day and age of feminism and #MeToo resonated with people so powerfully: “We have our children, we have our husbands if we’re lucky enough, and our partners. But we have to find personal fulfilment. We have to follow our dreams. We have to say, ‘I can do that, and I should be allowed to do that.'”

Each year award shows work harder toward full inclusion of race, gender and nationality. This year Canadian actress Sandra Oh was seen as spearheading the gains of Asian presence in film.

Top Golden Globe Winners 2019
Best Motion Picture – Drama: Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Green Book
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama: Glenn Close
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Regina King
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama: Rami Malck
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Olivia Colman
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Christian BaleBest Actress in a Drama TV Series – Sandra Oh
Best Drama TV Series – The Americans
Best Miniseries or TV Film – The Assassination of Gianni Versace
Best original song – Lady Gaga, for ‘Shallow’

This year’s 76th awards were co-hosted by Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh who played it safe with middle-of-the-road smiles all night long. Last year and the year before, the awards were carried well with both presence and critique by comedic talk show hosts Seth Meyers (2018) and Jimmy Fallon (2017). In 2016, host Ricky Gervais took negative commentary to the edge disguised as comedy.