The Golden Globe winners smorgasbord feels more like comfort food rather than something that will stun your palate into submission. And yet there are some nominees that will surprise you with the stories that they tell. Ignore that imp at the back of your craw whispering into your brain about the lack of racial diversity and inclusivity among the members and the awards. Look at the beautiful stories that are unfolding in front of you.
Let me start with the biggest win of the evening. Steven Spielberg himself. If his last film West Side Story didn’t raise the temperatures despite the fantastic presence of Rita Moreno, this time he chose to tell a story from his own life. And yes, as Indians are wont to say, to assure us that Salim-Javed’s line ‘Mere paas Ma hai’ is indeed the soul of all storytellers. Nothing to doubt here, a story about a young boy’s dreams about the movies and his ma, it’s a shoo in at the awards. Speilberg magic though is still beating strong with The Fabelmans, winner of the Best Motion Picture: Drama. And you will experience the magic of a boy making movies for his mom on the big screens in your city in a couple of weeks (February 10, 2023).
Movies about making movies are a great tradition. We’re not talking just about Singing In The Rain or 8 ½, or even Cinema Paradiso, we’re talking about the joy you found when you watched Bowfinger and Be Kind Rewind…
Tar is so good, you had better cross your fingers and hope for its release in India, gentle folk. It’s about a singer and her daughter (no, nothing like Qala) and a brilliant cast: Cate Blanchett won the best actor female for her role in the movie at the same Golden Globe awards. Cate is magnificent, and you get caught up in the politics of running an orchestra, the demands of a brutal routine not just for the conductor but for the players as well… And you want to do to the metronome what she does to pause time…
Avatar: The Way Of Water is running in the theatres and Top Gun Maverick is playing on Amazon Prime Video as is the original film. Elvis is playing on Amazon Prime Video as well.
There are so many documentaries on Marilyn Monroe on streaming platforms that Blonde sort of slipped through the cracks. But Ana De Armas makes for a very beautiful and tortured Blonde (it plays on Netflix).
I was wishing for Olivia Coleman to win the best actor female award for the film Empire Of The Sun. Again, the film revolves around the movies, but also gets inside Olivia Coleman’s head. I do hope this beautiful film about a movie theatre and people around it gets a release in India. After all, we are all crazy for movies…
Noone can be untouched by the transformation of Brendan Fraser for the movie The Whale. I would have thought he’d win the best actor award for his role in the film. As the trailer will show you and you will identify with what he wants to do: I want to know that I have done one thing right in my life…
Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern play the parents in the film The Son and try to get through to their troubled child. The film has not been released in India.
The Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy is a category that seems like one of those categories that seems to be like those added to make space in the program for good films that aren’t about war or mental health issues or death. Babylon by Damien Chazelle had everything from Brad Pitt to all other Hollywood excesses. It is not available online yet, but will have an Amazon Prime Video release.
Glass Onions is a Knives Out mystery and if you are a Daniel Craig fan, watch him play Benoit Blanc, detective (plays on Netflix). Triangle of Sadness is anything but sad. It’s a wicked black comedy about a cruise ship for the uber rich sinking, and the survivors land on an island, their designer lives upended. Ralph Fiennes brings his perfection in the dark comedy The Menu that plays on Disney+Hotstar. Adam Driver and his family have to evacuate because of a toxic air event in their small town in White Noise (watch it on Netflix).
Though each of these films is wonderful, The Banshees of Inisherin deserves the win. Don’t take my word for it, watch the film on Disney+Hotstar.
Michelle Yeoh is the leading martial artist of the movies, and to watch her as a lady saddled with her father’s laundry in the super funny Everything Everywhere All At Once. This film makes fun of everything from Asian stereotypes to multiverse. It is not yet streaming in India, but it will be Amazon Prime. It’s a well-deserved win as a Best Performance by an Actor (Female) in a musical or comedy.
Guillermo Del Toro has given us Pan’s Labyrinth and his new brainchild will make you watch with surprise (I could not believe wood could be so real!) and touch you. Pinocchio plays on Netflix. And when you are drinking tear stained coffee, you will know why this film won in the best animated film category. Others nominated in this category are all available on streaming platforms. Marcel The Shell With Shoes On will have the same gut wrenching effect on you, Turning Red (on Disney + Hotstar) is a not so subtle tale about puberty, and Puss In Boots well, it has the swagger of Antonio Banderas…
Best Supporting Actress was won by Angela Bassett for Wakanda Forever, but it should have gone to Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All At Once in my humble opinion. No offence to the amazingly talented Wakanda’s Queen Mother, of course.
The Best Supporting Actor award went to Ke Huay Kwan for his super funny role in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Better Call Saul, Ozark, The Crown and The Severance have been on Netflix and Apple TV+ for a while now, but The House of Dragons winning came as no surprise. A prequel to Game of Thrones, this show will get you instantly attached to the series. Will the people accept a woman on the Iron Throne? This series plays on Disney + Hotstar.
Zendaya wins her best actress award for Euphoria and you can watch it on Apple TV+.
And the best actor award was picked up by Kevin Costner who plays John Dutton in the Western saga Yellowstone. It plays on Amazon Prime. Oh yes, if you are a Star Wars fan, then don’t miss Andor on Disney + Hotstar because Diego Luna gave Kevin Costner a run for his money, as did Jeff Bridges in The Old Man (also Disney + Hotstar).
The list of the winners is long, and I would be remiss if I don’t mention The White Lotus (best Limited TV Series) and the funny and full of complicated characters Abbott Elementary (TV Series) both winners streaming on Disney + Hotstar.
Oh yes, last but not the least, Evan Peters. He is so real as the flesh-eating Jeffrey Dahmer on the series on Netflix that it is easy to mistake it for a documentary and had to switch off the show midway to recover from the show. As they say, the awards season has just begun, and by the time the Oscars are on the calendar, you would be on top of all the wonderful shows and movies that are winners! Happy viewing!
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