Lights, Camera, Action: The Golden Globes

The 82nd Golden Globes kicked off on January 5, marking the beginning of another exciting year in the screen industry. The annual awards show, which recognizes talent in both film and television, holds nomination categories across 27 categories that encompass actors, screenwriters, and directors alike. A group of entertainment journalists casts their nominations, and voters have the final say in deciding which top nomination wins the whole category. Unsurprisingly, some wins were more expected than others. 

I made a few predictions for the Golden Globes ahead of time, and some of them did not disappoint.

Although Wicked unexpectedly fell short of Emilio Pérez in the Musical category, the immense popularity of the film rightfully earned it a win in Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Meanwhile, Challengers was nominated across four categories but only won Best Original Film Score. Though I predicted that the film would be awarded, I certainly did not expect it to be in the film score category. 

Among the most surprising wins was Emilia Pérez, a musical that follows the story of a Mexican cartel leader (played by Karla Sofía Gascón) who hires a lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) to undergo gender-affirming surgery and assumes the name of Emilia Pérez; meanwhile, the cartel leader’s wife (Selena Gomez) navigates her own life. Despite backlash from Mexican viewers and LGBTQ+ organizations on the lack of Mexican representation in the production team and insensitive portrayal of gender-affirming surgery, Emilio Pérez absolutely dominated the Golden Globes scene, astonishingly sweeping up four awards, besting popular films such as Wicked (in the Musical category) and I’m Still Here (in the non-English film category). As a huge Gladiator fan, I was most surprised when Kieran Culkin won in the Best Supporting Actor category over Denzel Washington. Washington delivered a powerful performance as Macrinus in the long-awaited sequel Gladiator II, captivating the audience’s attention with his cunning facial expressions. His nuanced acting added an element of intrigue to both the character and the film. Meanwhile, Kieran Culkin’s performance in A Real Pain takes viewers on a unique journey that combines comedy, family, and seriousness into one huge mix of emotions. Out of curiosity, I watched A Real Pain, which tells the story of Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David (Jesse Eisenberg), two cousins with distinctly opposite personalities who are brought together by their grandmother’s untimely death and a tour in Poland. At times, the two cousins are met with moments of grief, to which Benji responds by masking his sadness with light-hearted humor and David with his usual seriousness. While Culkin prevailed over Washington in this category, both actors deserve praise for their respective films, and I highly recommend watching both Gladiator I & II and A Real Pain. 

Despite the mix of surprising and expected wins, every nominated film deserves recognition for the hard work put in. It is also worthwhile to listen to some of the speeches given by the winners—their stories of gratitude, creativity, and hard work can spark inspiration in our daily lives.