The HFPA giveth and, boy, the HFPA taketh away. On the film side this year’s Golden Globes nods were mostly devoid of embarrassing nominations of the “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” or “The Tourist” variety, but the foreign press members still find ways to put their foot in their mouth (we’ll get to why eventually). As for the television nods the HFPA seems to relish pushing new actresses (rarely actors) so much that even in this era of Peak TV they are overlooking performances that are much more deserving than the shiny new object (metaphorically speaking) that popped up in their screener pile. Should the HFPA leadership be slightly concerned about the latter? We certainly think so, but that’s just one subject of debate in our review of the best and worst of the 75th Golden Globe Awards nominations.
Before we jump into it one, additional note. You can analyze the Globe nods in context of the Oscar race for hours on end, but the most important thing to remember is the HFPA are not reflective of the Academy membership whatsoever. The Globes merely act as publicity tool for the studios to hype their contenders and, frankly, make some money at the holiday box office.
Keep all that in mind…
Best: “Shape of Water” gets the love
One of the best films of the year, Guillermo del Toro’s wunderkind fairy tale only found the love from LAFCA (three wins) so far getting snubbed at both the Gotham Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards. Recognition for the film was already beginning to turn around with regional critics groups and year-end top 10 lists from major critics, but a Globe leading seven nominations later and the Searchlight title has a huge publicity boost as it aims to claim the most Oscar nominations for any picture next month.
Worst: Jordan Peele is going to make history and HFPA are on the wrong side of it
It would have been one thing to ignore Peele’s screenplay for “Get Out.” It’s another to snub him from the Best Director category as well. Not only is undeserved, but it’s horrible optics for the HFPA. Peele should get nominated for the Oscar for Best Director. One of the five gentlemen (possible two or three of them) will not. I hope Ridley Scott’s work on “All The Money In The World” is deserved from a filmmaking perspective, but no one is currently considering him as a major player in this category when it comes to Oscar. Were the snubs for Luca Guadagnino and Sean Baker terrible? Yes. Would it have been better served to have Greta Gerwig, Patty Jenkins, Dee Rees or Angelina Jolie in this category as well? Absolutely, but snubbing Peele? Egad.