Federica Roberti shares her thoughts on the Winners of the 73rd Golden Globe Awards

Last night in Los Angeles the Hollywood Foreign Press Association celebrated cinema with one of its most important events in the industry, The Golden Globe.

Among the participants, between Cinema and Television, Hollywood finest actors were honoured for their performances and the daring efforts of some directors were acknowledged as well.

In the month that lead to this event, there has been a lot of talk of the many films that were snubbed by the association, but yesterday everyone forgot about it for one night and toasted with the winners in each category.

Once again Ricky Gervais had the onerous responsibility to host the event and I have to say that, this year, his performance and jokes weren't as mean as we are used to. The atmosphere was joyous and everyone looked slightly drunker than usual.

When it comes to the award season, I always like to be prepared and try to guess the winners and last night I was mostly satisfied with the choices made by the HFPA.

Among the different movies nominated in the “Best Motion Picture - Drama” the winner was The Revenant. This particular film deserved the recognition given to it because it contains the perfect balance of daring cinematography, excellent performances from the cast ensemble and a good and interesting screenplay. While the other candidate for the award have different good qualities that made their nominations worthy, I believe that Iñarritu's The Revenant was the only one that, as a whole, deserved to win the Golden Globe.

Ever since the nominations were revealed, everyone talked intensively about the category of “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” as The Martian was among the nominees. For me, this category was a no brainer. I understand the controversy of considering Ridley Scott's latest effort as a comedy or a musical, however, in this particular category, even two other of the four movies nominated couldn't be considered comedies as well.

To me, the choice to consider The Martian in this category was the only possible way to allow the HFPA to give an award to this film.

Its nomination, as well as the win itself, is well deserved. This film was highly entertaining, it didn't take itself too seriously by being overly dramatic and was a well made adaptation of the homonymous book. The cinematography was well detailed in every aspect and Matt Damon held its own throughout the movie by giving a humorous and realistic performance. For these same reasons, I was glad that Matt Damon won for “Best Performance by an Actor in a motion picture - Comedy or Musical” even though both Steve Carell and Christian Bale showed once again their versatility and ability to just transform themselves completely in The Big Short.

In the “Best Performance by an Actress in a motion picture - Drama” the choice between all the nominees was a bit harder. Each talented performer gave their best in their role as strong women that had to face difficult situations.

However, I was really glad when Brie Larson won her first Golden Globe for her role as Joy Newsome in Room. Her understanding of Joy's struggle to recover from her traumatic experience of being kidnapped and being kept hostage for seven years was outstanding. She gave a heartfelt performance of what happens when someone is saved from captivity and has to resume living without having the chance to erase all the awful memories of this traumatic experience. Among the other nominees her portrayal of her character was the most authentic and it deserved the recognition that she got last night.

For “Best Performance by an Actor in a motion picture - Drama”, the choice was harder.

Leonardo Di Caprio, for his strong portrayal of a man that lost everything and finds the will to live to avenge the loss of his family was groundbreaking, as it often happens with all his performances. This time, his full commitment to his character and the deep understanding of what motivates him to never give up paid off with a well deserved award. I would have been satisfied if in this category Bryan Cranston had won for his role as Dalton Trumbo, however, the level of dedication proved by Di Caprio couldn't be ignored, especially in such a difficult and demanding project.

Regarding the “Best Performance by an Actress in a motion picture - comedy or musical”, I felt like Jennifer Lawrence was a safe bet for the HFPA. In my opinion Joy is an enjoyable movie, however Lawrence's performance this time wasn't quite as good as the ones she usually delivers. She gave a strong interpretation of Joy Mangano, however, as for The Martian, I wouldn't consider it as either a comedy or a musical. Therefore, for me, a more surprising and well deserved win could have been Melissa McCarthy for her role in Spy, an underestimated hilarious movie that was the only rightful nominee in this category.

For the “Best Supporting Actress in a motion picture - Drama” every single nominee deserved to be recognised for their talent, however Kate Winslet well earned the Golden Globe for her role as Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs because, in such a fast paced and pragmatic movie with demanding dialogue, her portrayal of Steve Job's confident ended up being the soul of the film itself. She is the only character capable of showing Job's humanity in a movie in which every scene shows a man thriving for perfection at any cost. Winslet once again excised every expectation and brought to the screen a strong performance worthy of this award.

Since this year what it should have been honoured was the courage to bring to the screen a daring project that in many ways overtook the traditional boundaries in filmmaking, I believe that Alejandro Iñarritu completely earn the Golden Globe for “Best Director”. The Revenant is a project that took two years to come to life and the impossible conditions in which cast and crew had to work to bring it to the screen was extreme. Many criticised his methods and technique, which made it extremely difficult for the camera man to do their job, but the final result was outstanding and in the end all the hard work was rightfully awarded.

The same needs to be said for the “Best Screenplay – motion picture” category. Aaroon Sorkin proved, once again, his mastery in creating intricate and interesting dialogue filled with entertaining and incisive lines dipped in his unique sarcastic sense of humour for Steve Jobs.

Last night was also Ennio Morricone and Sylvester Stallone's night. In fact, while the brilliant Italian composer finally received his third Golden Globe for “Best Original Score – motion picture” thanks to Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, Stallone was finally recognised for his most famous role as Rocky Balbo 30 years later by winning “Best performance by an Actor in a Supporting role” in the movie Creed.

All in all, it was a great night in Hollywood and the only thing left for us to do is to wait for the Oscar's nominations and for the most awaited celebration of the year.

Written by Federica Roberti

The full list of winners are below (red and bold):

Best Motion Picture (Drama)

​Carol

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy)

The Big Short

Joy

The Martian

Spy

Trainwreck

Best Actor (Drama)

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Will Smith, Concussion

Best Actor (Musical or Comedy)

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Steve Carell, The Big Short

Matt Damon, The Martian

Al Pacino, Danny Collins

Mark Ruffalo - Infinitely Polar Bear

Best Actress (Drama)

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Brie Larson, Room

Rooney Mara, Carol

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)

Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

Melissa McCarthy, Spy

Amy Schumer, Trainwreck

Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van

Lily Tomlin, Grandma

Best Director

Todd Haynes, Carol

Alejandro G Inarritu, The Revenant

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Ridley Scott, The Martian

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Supporting Actor

Paul Dano, Love & Mercy

Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Michael Shannon, 99 Homes

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress

Jane Fonda, Youth

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Helen Mirren, Trumbo

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Alicia Vikander, Ex-Machina

Best Foreign Language Film

The Brand New Testament, Belgium

The Club, Chile

The Fencer, Finland/Germany/Estonia

Mustang, France

Son of Saul, Hungary

Best Screenplay

Room

Spotlight

The Big Short

Steve Jobs

The Hateful Eight

Best Original Score​

Carol

The Danish Girl

The Hateful Eight

Steve Jobs

The Revenant

Best Original Song​

Love Me Like You Do, Fifty Shades of Grey

One Kind of Love, Love & Mercy

See You Again, Furious 7

Simple Song No 3, Youth

Writing's On The Wall, Spectre

Best Animated Feature Film​

Anomalisa

The Good Dinosaur

Inside Out

The Peanuts Movie

Shaun the Sheep