Golden Globes: My Favorites

Admittedly, I didn't watch every film or show nominated for GG this year, but these are my picks based on what I liked. And you should watch these too.

Golden Globes are my favorite awards show of the year because it combines 2 of my loves so perfectly: TV and Film. I’m not a snob who thinks that if something is produced on TV it’s inherently of lower value than a film production and if anything a surge of varied production company entrants in the last, many years like Netflix, Prime, Hulu, and all the premiums (but ok, HBO is better than the rest) has made it possible to have episodic narratives take flight and compete with the likes any frou frou film. Need proof? You can see my take on Ozark, here.

Back to film though and the Golden Globes in particular…

I consumed 4+ hours of intense movie watching yesterday to ensure I got in Nomadland and Sound of Metal prior to tonight’s Golden Globes. I refused to find myself in the situation I did last year pre-Oscars, last minute watching Parasite on Prime, pre-Oscars though I’m so happy I did because if there was one movie to bet on for the 2020 awards show circuit, Parasite was it. As refresher, it took home Best Picture and we all did the happy dance for Bong Joon-ho, its director, who was so deserving of that honor.

Re: This year’s award for Best Picture - Drama. Of the five films nominated. I’ve only seen Nomadland and it’s good - it’s nearly even great, I’d say. After a tenuous year of heartache across our homeland, falling in love with the natural wonders of this country, much of which is tucked into the expanse of the West Coast (Badlands, Canyon, Desert) thru the eyes of Fern, the character played by Frances McDormand, a tortured soul who is grieving extensive loss, feels on-tone. The film brings with it a sense of somber mood, but it also serves to embody our collective loss as a nation. 500,000+ people died in this country just in the last year from the COVID-19 pandemic. Loss as visualized thru the sparse desert and the rugged rock formations of the Badlands apart from Fern’s own loss is dramatic.

Fern is watching you watching her.

At one point early on in the movie, Fern meets one of her former students at a superstore and the student starts to recite a poem (from MacBeth - see below) that Fern taught her back when Fern was a substitute teacher. The intent here is show us that Fern has more depth than the transient traveler we see on the surface, who is moving from seasonal job to job, and as we get to meet other nomads we get to understand that each of them has a story too, one that we can’t begin to understand unless we sit and listen. I guess this is another untold truth of this film - The path to healing is paved with listening to ensure we seek to understand others. Fern’s story is if nothing else, an onion, that we are continually peeling back the layers of.

And now a word from Shakespeare:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Sound of Metal was not nominated for Best Picture (boo to that) and I urge you to read on about the films’ creators (Marder brothers) and their 10-year overnight path to success. It’s truly a story of persistence, will and vision. Without giving away too much, the film is about a former addict/drummer who starts to lose his hearing early on in the film and in the first 15 minutes, he discovers he’s lost ~85% of his hearing in both ears.

Ruben finds his moment of stillness.

The rest of the story is where it gets good as Ruben, played by Riz Ahmed, who has been nominated for Best Actor for his role as Ruben Stone, finds his way back to relevance and defining who he is. Along the way, the film spends a great deal of time teaching us about this deaf community that Ruben becomes apart of and who come to embrace Ruben for who is. This community is no less rich or vibrant than the before world that Ruben seeks to go back to. If anything, it’s deeper and surrounded by people who like him and where he can flourish. As is the case with human nature, the path to acceptance of anything less than what we consider to be “normal” or “ideal” is hard to grapple with. That’s what makes this film believable and worthy of Best Picture.

Note to audiophiles: This film is a must-watch. Painstaking detail was put into the sensory component of sound: Using muted sounds, playing with perspective of what Ruben is hearing vs what someone with hearing would hear.

Misc. Plugs:

Jared Leto is The Little Things on HBO Max is so creepy good as a suspect serial killer, I’d love for him to win Best Supporting Actor, Film. Overall, that movie is one of the better ones I’ve watched recently.

Hamilton needs to win all the musical categories it’s competing in. That one’s for my kids.

Soul needs to win Best Animated movie. I liked The Croods too but Soul was a tearjerker with a notable soundtrack.

For TV nominees, as long as Killing Eve, The Crown, and Ozark get their due, I’m happy. I know in a lot of these categories, actors and actresses are competing, so here’s what i’ll say as far as the recos I’m rooting for:

Best Drama: Ozark (easy)

Best Television, Actress in Drama: Laura Linney (Ozark) or Jodie Comer (Killing Eve). It’s a toss up. Runner up: Olivia Coleman (The Crown) and pretty much Olivia Coleman in anything.

Best Television, Actor in Drama: Jason Bateman (Ozark), Matthew Rhys (Perry Mason). I wish I could root for Rhys in The Americans again. He’s just so good.

Best Comedy: This is such a tough one. If Schitt’s Creek or Ted Lasso wins, I’ll be happy. Though I enjoyed The Great too.

Best Television Motion Picture: Also hard but here’s what I’ll say as I saw most of these. I think they all warrant their nomination. For me, personally, The Queen’s Gambit was the most enthralling of the bunch.

To get you in the Golden Globes mood, I urge you all to watch my interview with the <10 film buffs in our house on subject of the 5 films nominated in the Best Picture - Drama category to hear their take. Link is here.

This happened this week too: I’m on Instagram. If you’re looking for daily, snackable recommendations in the form of quick hits and fun, check me out there.

If you like what you see (chances are you will), follow me and tell your friends too as well. The more, the merrier.

Have a good first week of March. This is me, signing off.

Edit/Correction: In previous version, I had posted “Pieces of Metal” instead of “Sound of Metal” - That has been corrected in this version.