Moonlight wins Best Drama at Golden Globes
La La Land sweeps awards, Sarah Paulson wins, and Meryl Streep blasts Trump's America
Gay coming-of-age drama Moonlight took the Golden Globes’ top prize at last night’s ceremony, winning Best Motion Picture – Drama.
Writer-director Barry Jenkins’ film — about an African American man coming to terms with his sexuality over three periods in his life — was lauded by critics when it came out last Fall.
Metro Weekly’s Randy Shulman wrote: “If you only see one movie this year, make it Moonlight…. One of those rare and extraordinary cinematic experiences that pulls you deeply into its narrative, Moonlight (
) wraps you in a time, place, and mood, artfully guiding you into an emotional payoff without once feeling manipulative or artificial…. [It] is the best gay film since 1996’s Beautiful Thing, pretty much stealing that film’s mantle. It’s also the best African-American film since 1991’s Boyz in the Hood. It’s been a long time coming on both counts. And it’s been worth the wait.”
Jenkins dedicated his win to his mother, saying: “To my mom, Denzel [Washington] says in Fences, ‘I gave you everything. I gave you your life.’ Mom, you gave me my life, and I hope being on this stage right now is fulfillment of the life that you gave me.”
It was Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, that swept the night, winning seven Globes in total — the most won by any single film. Gosling took home best actor for a musical or comedy, Stone best actress, the film won Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, best director, best screenplay, original score, and original song for “City of Stars”.
That last award was accepted by composer Justin Hurwitz and songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul — the gay/straight duo behind Dear Evan Hansen.
Sarah Paulson rounded out the list of LGBT award winners from the night, with the People v. O.J. Simpson star winning her first Golden Globe for Performance by an Actress in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for TV.
“Oh my God, I feel like I’m going to faint,” she said, making her way onto the stage, before calling out the show’s producer Ryan Murphy, saying “To the man responsible for this, Ryan Murphy, you’ve changed my life.”
Paulson’s girlfriend, actress Holland Taylor, took to Twitter to congratulate her partner, calling Paulson “A shimmering, spectacular, singular sensation…!!!”
However, it was Meryl Streep who commanded the most attention during last night’s awards. While collecting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, she launched into a scathing criticism of President-elect Donald Trump — all without mentioning his name.
She started by noting that “all of us in this room, really, belong to the most vilified segments in American society right now. Think about it: Hollywood, foreigners and the press…. Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”
Streep then focused on one of Trump’s most controversial moments from the campaign: mocking a disabled reporter during a speech.
“There was one performance this year that stunned me,” Streep said. “It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. There was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it. I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life.
“And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing,” she continued. “Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”
Trump once again took to Twitter to complain about someone using facts against him, calling Streep “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood.”
As the Washington Post notes, Streep has been nominated for 30 Golden Globes (winning 8) and 19 Academy Awards (winning 3), more nominations than any other actor in history.
Watch her full speech below:
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