A dramatic turn of events and a foregone conclusion: Sam Mendes' "1917" and Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" triumphed at the 2019 Golden Globes for Best Drama and Best Comedy, respectively, on the night in Beverly Hills that traditionally marks the start of the Oscar race. Mendes for Best Director and Tarantino for Best Screenwriter (plus Brad Pitt for Best Supporting Actor) took home two more Golden Globes for their films during the ceremony, which for the first time in the history of the Hollywood Foreign Press Awards had given Netflix productions the lead-up to the awards: the streaming giant had accumulated a total of 34 nominations. The success of Netflix and the other streaming entertainment giants was drastically undermined in the final reckoning. “I hope it means people go see these films on the big screen, the way they were intended,” Mendes said in a not-so-subtle dig at Netflix, which at the end of the ceremony took home only two awards: to Laura Dern for “Marriage Story” and Olivia Colman for “The Crown.” Martin Scorsese, on the other hand, was resoundingly rejected, with “The Irishman” failing to break through (even Robert De Niro wasn't nominated for Best Actor). Two other Netflix productions also failed, “Marriage Story” and “Two Popes,” which, like “Joker,” were beaten by Mendes' saga about a World War II mission. HBO fared better, converting four of its 15 nominations into wins, including “Chernobyl” and “Succession,” while Amazon, thanks to “Fleabag,” took home two Globes: for Best Comedy Series and for Phoebe Waller-Bridge for her brilliant performance alongside the “hot priest” Andrew Scott. South Korean director Bong Joon-Ha's "Parasite" swept the foreign-language film category, while René Zellweger and Joaquin Phoenix won Best Actor. Political moments were also touched upon during the evening hosted by British actor Ricky Gervais: Michelle Williams called for women's rights to choose abortion, accepting the award for Best Actress in a Miniseries for "Fosse/Verdon," while Joaquin Phoenix, winner of Best Actor for "Joker," called on entertainment celebrities to do more to combat the climate crisis. The vegan dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel isn't enough, Phoenix said, while other stars evoked the Australian wildfires that brought Nicole Kidman to tears on the red carpet: her home "down under" is threatened by flames.
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