Golden Globes for »Borat«, »Nomadland«: That's how it looks, America

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Daniel Kaluuya wins first prize of the evening for best supporting actor in a film drama

Photo: NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

"Am I just talking now?" Daniel Kaluuya had just won the first trophy at this year's Golden Globes.

But switched to the gala via zoom, the technical support had forgotten to activate Kaluuya's microfron.

So the new award winner had to ask briefly what the plan was now.

Somebody could have done that earlier at the Golden Globes - ask what the plan was now.

Not only in the acceptance speeches of the award winners, but in general: where the Globes see their future.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), a small association of fewer than 90 international correspondents in Los Angeles, has never been as criticized as it was this year.

A detailed background report in the Los Angeles Times earlier last week revealed dubious fee mechanisms through which members of the HFPA rewarded themselves for their services in pricing, and speculated that certain nominations such as the one for the Netflix series Emily in Paris «Could be related to generous invitations to set visits.

In addition, the »LA Times« had disclosed that the HFPA does not have a single black member, which was seen in industry circles as the reason why black artists sometimes have such a hard time at the Globes.

Black skill

But like the HFPA's pricing decisions, which are often arbitrary and rarely representative of the Oscars, for example, the criticism of the HFPA is not always to the point.

“I thank the all-white Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” quipped Sacha Baron Cohen, for winning the award for best actor in a comedy or musical for “Borat.

Follow-up movie film «won.

But if one thing succeeded on this evening, which was characterized by further technical breakdowns and suffered from the division into two venues in New York and Los Angeles, it was the celebration of black skills: Kaluuya won for his grandiose performance of the Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton in "Judas and the Black Messiah," Audra Day prevailed over favorite Carey Mulligan with her portrayal of Billy Holiday as best drama actress, and John Boyega took on TV for his role in Steve McQueens Anthology »Small Ax« for the best supporting actor.

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Chadwick Boseman's widow Taylor Simone Ledward accepts the award for best actor in his place

Photo: Rich Polk / NBCUniversal / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Most of all, Chadwick Boseman's posthumous win for "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" was the highlight of the evening.

Boseman died of cancer on August 28th last year.

In his place, his widow Taylor Simone Ledward received the Golden Globe for Best Male Drama Leading Role and spoke in the style of the “Black Panther” star: “He would say something beautiful, something inspiring, something that makes the voice within us would reinforce everyone who tells us: You can do this, who tells us to continue, who reminds us of what we have to do at this moment in history. "

Obsolete the Oscars

The traditionally poor performance of female directors at the Golden Globes should also be corrected this evening: Chloé Zhao won for her highly sensitive drama »Nomadland« about poverty in old age in the USA.

After Barbra Streisand for "Yentl" she is only the second woman in the history of the Globes to win in this category - but for the time being that is twice as many as at the Oscars.

But when it comes to Zhao and »Nomadland«, the Academy Awards, which will announce their nominations on March 15th, will most likely follow suit, the film is so strong.

And another trend from the Globes is likely to repeat itself at the Oscars: that Netflix largely goes away empty-handed.

Despite the many nominations in the film sector, Netflix was only able to take home two trophies, besides the one for Chadwick Boseman, the one for Aaron Sorkin's screenplay for "The Trial of the Chicago 7".

Even if the picture was reversed in the TV sector and Netflix was able to claim a total of six prizes for "The Crown" and "Damengambit", a new order for streaming services emerged on Sunday evening.

Hulu, which has "Nomadland" on offer, and Amazon, which has "Borat" and "One Night in Miami", will continue to gain in profile in the film sector, while Netflix scores particularly well in its old core business of series.

Two trips through America

There is one thing in which the Globes and Oscars will differ significantly: the Oscars will certainly not be as American as the Globes 2021.

The international correspondents, of all people, have honored the most American films on offer.

Although »Borat« and »Nomadland« could not be more different in terms of tonality, they function like two parts of a road movie in terms of content.

Both films travel to the USA and show it as a country that no longer knows how to care for its residents.

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In »Borat« the focus is on women, who are burdened with repressive moral and beauty standards, in »Nomadland« on the elderly, for whom the pension is no longer sufficient for a secure retirement and who are forced to do temporary work with the mobile home to travel to temporary work.

The fact that both films are hybrid formats and combine documentary elements with fictional elements only makes their similarities even clearer.

And even with the foreign-language films, "Minari" was a thoroughly American film.

In it, the native American Lee Isaac Chung tells, based on autobiographical motifs, how a Korean couple and their children are trying to gain a foothold in the United States.

Since the main language spoken in "Minari" is Korean, the film ended up in international films according to Globe regulations.

That will not happen to the Oscars, originally the most American of all film awards, because there are different submission mechanisms.

So the Globes fulfilled their last ancestral mission that evening: With their chaos, the Oscars always look a little better than they actually deserve.

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