Critical Week: Back on the case

Awards season continues to gather speed, with the Golden Globes on Sunday. I vote in these, and it was nice to see some sign of the international voting base in some more unexpected winners. I also had ballot deadlines with two other groups who announced their nominees: the Online Film Critics Society and the Dorian Awards. My annual Sweepstakes is up and running, tallying all the awards in one place, and next week things ramp up even more with the Oscar nominees. As for movies, I watched the deliberately gritty cop thriller The Rip, which does nothing much new but reunites Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on-screen, alongside a terrific cast including Steven Yeun, Catalina Sandino Moreno and new Golden Globe winner Teyana Taylor. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Sound of Falling • Rental Family
A Private Life • Dead Man's Wire
ALL REVIEWS >

Another thriller, Bart Layton's Crime 101, features the starry quartet Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo and Barry Keoghan, none of whom disappoint with their complex characterisations. And then there was the rabid chimp horror Primate, which never quite grabs hold largely due to its man-in-a-monkey-suit aesthetic. More intriguing, timely and important was the Palestinian drama All That's Left of You, with gets a bit soapy but packs a powerful kick. And I finally caught up with the animated epic Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, which looks amazing even if it feels like watching someone else play a videogame.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching Francois Ozon's new film of Camus' The Stranger, the British family doc D Is for Distance, a big-screen premiere for the TV series The Beauty and a live performance of The Wedding at Sadler's Wells East.

Critical Week: Love is all around

As the year-end holidays get closer, more and more awards bodies are presenting their nominations. Monday it was the Golden Globes, which I am voting in for the second year. The new collection of 300 international critic voters has seriously shifted the nominations into something very interesting this year. Meanwhile, there's a new romantic comedy in the cinema: What Happens Later, directed by Meg Ryan, who stars alongside David Duchovny as exes who cross paths in an airport. There are no other actors on-screen, and their charisma makes the movie enjoyable if corny. Another actor-turned-director, Eva Longoria shows serious skill with the whizzy, hugely entertaining biopic Flamin' Hot, which tells the story of the janitor who rebooted Frito-Lay, from his colourful perspective.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
American Fiction • Wonka
The Zone of Interest • Every Body
The Lost Boys • The Taste of Things
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
ALL REVIEWS >

More serious fare came from Michael Winterbottom, whose 1940s Israeli drama Shoshana feels almost painfully timely and informative. It's a sometimes odd mix of politics and romance, but is hugely involving. From Poland, Agnieszka Holland's terrific drama Green Border has courted controversy for its honest depiction of heartless right-wing immigration policies, simply by telling an honest story from three wrenching perspectives. From Germany, the drama The Teachers' Lounge skilfully follows a young teacher as her optimism is dealt a blow from a flurry of rumours and accusations. It's riveting and rather scary. From Romania, Radu Jude's Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World. And I was in the theatre for another panto this week, Puss in Boots at Wonderville.

Movies this week include a trip to the cinema to catch The Three Musketeers: Milady, since I missed the only press screening. And there's more catching up needed to see films before the next voting deadlines. The London Critics' Circle announces our nominations next Wednesday...

Confessions of a Golden Globes voter

It's been 40 years this month since the Golden Globes presented New Star of the Year to billionaire socialite and notoriously unpromising star Pia Zadora. Clearly something was seriously wrong with this organisation, and as a student journalist writing about film for a local weekly newspaper, I was surprised to learn that these supposedly venerable awards were actually presented by only a few dozen foreign journalists based in Los Angeles. And this award revealed that their prizes had price tags. Indeed, just over a decade earlier the ceremony had been forced off the air when the FCC charged the organising Hollywood Foreign Press Association with misleading the public about how winners were determined.

Pia Zadora in 1982

Since then, the HFPA has never been taken serious by the industry, other than as a ratings bonanza to boost the buzz for more reputable awards. The biggest stars have consistently attended their lively ceremony, and the prizes are named in the same breath as Oscar and Bafta, which are voted on by thousands of artists who make movies. It's never been a secret that the Globes voters only seemed to be in the business for the parties, trips and gifts. So it was never surprising that their ceremonies were peppered with dodgy winners. Even so, they steadily grew in influence thanks to A-list stars who turned up for the big night.

It took a major newspaper investigation to reveal a bigger picture. A February 2021 Los Angeles Times report exposed a culture of ethical failings among HFPA members and a startling lack of diversity among its 87 voters. This time, the outrage caught hold and the organisation was forced to take action, holding its ceremony off the air in January 2022 while completely restructuring the company and inviting more diverse members, now including foreign journalists who are based in other North American cities. Then last summer, they invited journalists who live abroad to join as "international voters" for the 80th Golden Globes in January 2023.

The LA Times report

This is where I came in. I received the invitation through the international critics' federation Fipresci, and my first reaction was scepticism. But I've never been someone who simply dismisses anyone or anything based on past mistakes. As I thought about it, I began to feel that maybe I should check this out: instead of sitting back and criticising the Globes for their toxicity, perhaps I could be more proactive. HFPA President Helen Hoehne has spoken of the "momentous change" within the organisation, and this was a chance to see that for myself and, in a very small way, help nudge it forward.

I was certainly surprised by the ethical rules, as I was asked to sign a strict code of conduct and declare any potential conflicts of interest (this had to be done at every step in the process, including on the ballots themselves). Then the zoom meeting welcoming the international intake was properly refreshing, as I saw more than 100 people from 62 countries participating in the discussion. Clearly this was going to have a major impact on the nominations. That said, we were divided into two groups (film and TV voters), so the 100 full members still have a majority.

80th Golden Globes: film acting winners Michelle Yeoh,
Colin Farrell, Cate Blanchett (did not attend),
Austin Butler, Angela Bassett and Ke Huy Quan

Throughout awards season, being a Globes voter provided excellent access to even the most marginal contending films, although it's never too difficult as I also vote in the London Critics' Circle Film Awards, Galeca's Dorian Awards, Fipresci's prizes and the Online Film Critics Society Awards. And my parents live in Southern California, so when I visited them in November I was able to attend an in-person Golden Globes screening (for Babylon on the Paramount lot) and meet several members in person.

From this, as well as a series of zoom meetings, it was nice to see what a friendly group of people they are. They come from all over the world, so as a lifelong expat I immediately have common ground there. And being in a room with them, I could see that there's a family camaraderie between them, which I also recognise as someone who has lived most of my life as a foreigner. As far as I know, I am the only international voter that the members met at a screening.

80th Golden Globes: host Jerrod Carmichael,
Carol Burnett Award winner Ryan Murphy, TV actresses Jennifer Coolidge
and Quinta Brunson, and Cecil B DeMille Award winner Eddie Murphy

Then the nominations came out and, while there were some wonderful wildcards in there, I was a bit disappointed that there weren't more comprehensive surprises (it should be noted that the DGA didn't nominate any female directors either this year). While the winners are perhaps predictable, they're also a notably diverse bunch. Annoyingly, because the Golden Globes has never had a UK broadcast, there was no way for me to watch the ceremony, so I have only seen online clips.

In the end, while I would have liked for the international voters to spark a more revolutionary set of nominees and winners, I am glad that I participated in this process. I am genuinely rooting for the HFPA to continue cleaning up its act, perhaps by more effectively highlighting its considerable charity work and further diversifying its voting base, perhaps with the inclusion of even more international voters. I don't know if I'll be invited to participate next year, but I'll always prefer to have a hand in change rather than complain that it's not happening quickly enough.