The nominations for the Golden Globes awards show, set to take place on February 28th and to be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, have recently been announced, and several of the nominations have been questioned and criticized. One of the biggest shocks was that “Minari” was nominated in the foreign film category instead of the best motion picture drama category, even though “Minari” was produced by an American production company, had an American filmmaker, and had an American lead actor. The reason this film was nominated in the foreign film category is that 70% of “Minari” was spoken in Korean; however, in 2012, “Inglourious Basterds” was nominated at the Golden Globes for the best motion picture drama category rather than the foreign film category despite the fact that 70% of the film is spoken in languages other than English.
Another surprising move by the Golden Globes was the choice to nominate “Music” in the best comedy or musical category. “Music” is a film that has been extremely criticized as the main character in the movie is autistic and played by a non-autistic person. Additionally, Sia, the director of the movie, has responded to these criticisms by disrespecting autistic actors and refusing to admit that her film is extremely harmful to the autistic community. The film currently stands with a 10% critics rating and a 15% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s a shock that the film was even considered for a nomination at all. The only other film nominated with a critical reception as comparably low as “Music” is “Hillbilly Elegy,” which has a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 25% and received recognition in the form of Glenn Close earning a nomination for best supporting actress for that film.
Some people have also questioned the Golden Globes’ choice to nominate James Corden, who was nominated for best actor in a musical or comedy, as Corden’s performance was said to be subpar compared to the performance of other actors in the category he was nominated in. Furthermore, people frustratedly pointed out, if Corden could earn a nomination for playing a gay man in a movie about homophobia, Steven Yuen deserved a nomination for his astounding performance in “Minari.” Regardless of these controversial nominations, there were still some notable nominations, such as the nomination for “Palm Springs” for best comedy or musical category and Carey Mulligan’s nomination for best actress in a drama for her performance in “Promising Young Woman,” that seemed to make sense. Overall, the Golden Globes nominations still were questionable, and it’ll be interesting to see how the Oscar nominations play out in regards to the responses to the Golden Globe nominations.