In the end, the year-long preamble to the 2022 Golden Globes served up more discussion than the announcement of its winners.
After months of controversy surrounding its horrifically anti-diverse membership, celebrity and broadcasting boycotts, news of nominees’ successes were largely heralded to the public, without all the fanfare, through Twitter updates post-event.
A ceremony of such detached nature is, in some ways, fitting in a time where screen-based narratives are still required to roll with Covid-19’s punches and adapt to the commonality of immediate home releases. Audiences have never been so distant. And so it seems, has Hollywood’s stars, many of whom decided against appearing at the event or even acknowledging nominations and wins in the face of 2021’s controversy.
Ultimately, it was a largely unsurprising list of winners; the Hollywood Foreign Press would hardly have wanted any snub-related hullabaloo to compound their annus horribilis. Jane Campion’s Western psychodrama The Power of the Dog, detailing the growing tensions between two siblings and ranch-hands who exist at polar ends of the emotional spectrum, collected wins for ‘Best Motion Picture – Drama’, Kodi Smit-McPhee as ‘Best Supporting Actor’ and Campion as ‘Best Director’ – the first time the directorial accolade has been won by two women consecutively.
Steven Spielberg’s critically acclaimed – and, confoundingly, financial flop – West Side Story matched Campion’s western and Succession in the TV categories, with three awards: one ‘Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy’ and two for its enigmatic leading ladies Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose who both outshone their 1961 incumbents in debut and breakout roles respectively.
Other expected recipients who made good on media predictions include a resurgent Will Smith as Richard Williams, father of tennis legends Venus and Serena, in King Richard and Andrew Garfield for his seamless transformation into Jonathan Larson in tick, tick… BOOM! as Best Actors in Drama and Musical/Comedy categories. Likewise, the recently released Encanto triumphed in the ‘Best Animated Feature’ category, and Japanese release Drive My Car unsurprisingly took home the award for ‘Best Non-English Film’.
Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast excelled in ‘Best Screenplay’; though more silverware was expected, some have disputed its credentials for this award in comparison with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza. However, Kristen Stewart’s Globe-less outing as frenzied Princess Diana in Pablo Larrain’s nightmarish Spencer stands as the ceremony’s most unjust cold-shoulder. Instead, Nicole Kidman won the award as Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos.
The incomparable HBO drama Succession, famous for its darkly comic depiction of a media conglomerate’s scrabbling, dysfunctional heirs, rightfully succeeded in ‘Best Television Series – Drama’ and in two acting categories with Jeremy Strong and Sarah Snook rewarded as Kendall and Siobhan Roy. Elsewhere, both Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain were unlucky to miss out on actor and actress awards in the miniseries department for their portrayals of a turbulent husband and wife in Scenes from a Marriage. There were multiple nominations for other shows including Ted Lasso, The Morning Show and Dopesick, with Hacks the only other multiple winner.
You can find a full list of all the winners and nominees here.