The Golden Globes, organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, kick-start the award season. Notably, the Golden Globes split many of their awards between ‘Drama’ or ‘Musical/Comedy’ in each section, essentially widening the possibility for movies to obtain key awards such as Best Picture, Best Actor or Best Actress. Thus, there is no sure science for basing Oscar wins on the Golden Globes. The award system is different, as noted. Furthermore, the fact that it is organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association generally allows for more internationally successful movies to shine, in comparison to the Oscars. However, some early indication of award potential can be seen, and big wins often make impacts as Academy Members begin voting.

 Summary

 A surprise of the night, Bohemian Rhapsody was suddenly propelled to success. The movie was the Best Picture in a Drama, and Rami Malek’s portrayal of Freddie Mercury earnt him the Best Actor in a Drama award. An international success, it is not likely the movie will receive a significant number of esteemed accolades come Oscar time, remembering that the Foreign Press look at global hits such as Bohemian Rhapsody more favourably than other award providers.

Green Book fared favourably during the evening, scooping up three prizes: Best Musical or Comedy, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali. It can be expected to have more successes throughout the award season, especially in contention with other dramas for a possible Best Picture win at the Oscars. Most likely, Mahershala Ali could continue on to be a front runner for Best Supporting Actor.

Vice was the most nominated award, with six potential awards. It ultimately only won one, with Christian Bale winning Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. This was seen somewhat as a surprise, with Bradley Cooper’s performance in a A Star is Born suggested to earn him an award too. However, as Gary Oldman showed in last year’s The Darkest Hour (which focused on Winston Churchill), the Oscars do look favourably on British actors portraying political figures in character-driven dramas.

As mentioned, A Star is Born was widely expected to be a serious award contender, but came away with only one award for Best Original Song, out of five nominations. Lady Gaga was somewhat expected to grab Best Actress in a Drama, the award going to Glenn Close for her performance in The Wife over Gaga.

 The Favourite came out with one win. British actress Olivia Colman won the award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, essentially making the race for Best Actress very contested. It was otherwise nominated for four other awards.

Directed by Barry Jenkins, who enjoyed immense success with Moonlight in 2016, If Beale Street won one award out of three nominations, where Regina King won Best Supporting Actress.

 First Man, when released, seemed to be vying for awards. However, winning one award out of two nominations (the win being for Best Original Score), the movie appeared to be washed out amongst the multiple films more likely to leave a bigger impact. Though an American-based tale could prove to be more popular with Oscar Academy Members rather than the Foreign Press, its prospects in the award season look dim.

Roma was another movie with an arguably successful time at the Globes, winning two out of its three nominations: Best Foreign Language Film and nabbing Best Director.

As per the rules of eligibility for this award, movies nominated for Best Foreign Language Film cannot also qualify for Best Picture Drama or Musical/Comedy, which are for English-language films exclusively. Though Roma was not nominated for a Best Picture award, in this case, the Oscars may prove different, as foreign language films have been nominated for Best Picture.

 Despite a recent release in comparison to the Globes, SpiderMan: Into the Spiderverse did win Best Animated Feature. Its future prospects in the award season will be questionable, considering that come Oscar time it will be fighting against Incredibles 2, a new movie from academy-adored Pixar and  Brad Bird, who won previous Oscars with the first Incredibles and Ratatouille. Nevertheless, at least a key award has been obtained for the directors of The Lego Movie.

 Thoughts

 Unlike the previous year, no single movie appeared to be a breakout awards success at the 2019 Golden Globes. It starts off the award season with multiple vying films and hotly contested categories. It is essentially anyone’s game at the start of this award season.