How Golden Globes Movie Nominations Keep Focus on 'La La Land,' 'Moonlight' and 'Manchester by the Sea' (Analysis)

AWARDS BEAT

oscars La La Land Moonlight Manchester by the Sea

Golden Globe voters were inclusive in their nominations on Monday, but not to a record degree.

They were predictable, except when they weren’t.

They were entirely respectable, but with a few odd quirks.

And they came up with a lineup of film nominations that puts the same three films on top that have been there for most of awards season: Damien Chazelle’s dazzling musical “La La Land,” Kenneth Lonergan’s searing drama “Manchester by the Sea” and Barry Jenkins’ lyrical coming-of-age story “Moonlight.”

Also Read: Golden Globes: The Complete List of Nominees

Those three were all nominated in the crucial picture, director and screenplay categories, and all three received multiple acting nominations as well.

And with Globe nominations coming less than 12 hours after all three films won key prizes at the Critics’ Choice Awards, it means that voters from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the most part did what other early voters have done in identifying the best films and performances of 2016.

Monday’s nominations don’t really tell us much about what Oscar voters will think when they get around to voting a month from now. And they aren’t likely to have much effect on those voters, except maybe to persuade a couple of them to pick up their screeners of “Nocturnal Animals” or “Captain Fantastic.”

(Unless they really haven’t been paying attention, they already know they need to see “La La Land,” “Manchester” and “Moonlight.”)

Also Read: 'La La Land,' 'Moonlight' Lead 2017 Golden Globes Nominations

A year after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy — which came because of the Academy’s all-white slate of acting nominees, and after the Globes had nominated Will Smith and Idris Elba — Globes voters gave us six black acting nominees: Denzel Washington and Viola Davis for “Fences,” Ruth Negga for “Loving,” Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris for “Moonlight” and Octavia Spencer for “Hidden Figures.”

If Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae had joined their castmate Spencer, it would have been a Globes record; as it was, the HFPA recognized a diverse year in quality movies without making a strong statement.

But they made statements in other areas, showing off the unusual favorites and occasional blind spots that the group always displays.

For instance: If you said there would be one Best Supporting Actor nominee from “Florence Foster Jenkins” and another from “Nocturnal Animals,” it’d make perfect sense that those would be Hugh Grant for “Florence” and Michael Shannon for “Nocturnal” — but instead the Globes picked Simon Helberg for the former film (a smart choice) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson for the latter (a baffling one).

Also Read: Golden Globes Nominations by the Numbers: HBO Dominates TV, Summit Leads Movies

They loved Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals,” giving it nominations for supporting actor, screenplay and director, where Ford edged out the likes of Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood and Denzel Washington. But they didn’t love it quite enough to vote it into the Best Motion Picture – Drama category, making Ford the only nominated director not to see his film recognized with a best-picture nom.

(He was also the only nominated director to send each voter two bottles of his signature fragrance, though HFPA leadership asked its members to return one of the bottles.)

So now we have a Golden Globes where Martin Scorsese isn’t a nominee but Iggy Pop (best original song) is. Where Colin Farrell got into the comedy-actor category, for “The Lobster,” but Warren Beatty (“Rules Don’t Apply”) and George Clooney (“Hail, Caesar!”) didn’t. Where they passed over Tom Hanks in “Sully” so they could invite Viggo Mortensen to the party. Where the star-studded “Hail, Caesar!” and “Rules Don’t Apply” couldn’t break into the thin Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category, but the delightful, tiny Irish musical “Sing Street” could.

Come to think of it, that could make for a pretty cool Golden Globes.

Golden Globes 2017: See the Nominees (Photos)

Bryan Cranston, Sarah Paulson and Riz Ahmed are among the nominees for the Golden Globes this year
Best Motion Picture – Drama

“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
TWC
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

“20th Century Women”
“Deadpool”
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“La La Land”
“Sing Street”
TWC
Best Director – Motion Picture

Damien Chazelle–“La La Land”
Tom Ford–“Nocturnal Animals”
Mel Gibson–“Hacksaw Ridge”
Barry Jenkins–“Moonlight”
Kenneth Lonergan–“Manchester by the Sea”
Lionsgate
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

Casey Affleck–“Manchester by the Sea”
Joel Edgerton–“Loving”
Andrew Garfield–“Hacksaw Ridge”
Viggo Mortensen–“Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington–“Fences”
Amazon Studios
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

Amy Adams–“Arrival”
Jessica Chastain–“Miss Sloane”
Isabelle Huppert–“Elle”
Ruth Negga–“Loving”
Natalie Portman–“Jackie”
Fox
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Colin Farrell–“The Lobster”
Ryan Gosling–“La La Land”
Hugh Grant–“Florence Foster Jenkins”
Jonah Hill–“War Dogs”
Ryan Reynolds–“Deadpool”
Fox
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Annette Bening–“20th Century Women”
Lily Collins–“Rules Don’t Apply”
Hailee Steinfeld–“Edge of Seventeen”
Emma Stone–“La La Land”
Meryl Streep–“Florence Foster Jenkins”
Lionsgate
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

Mahershala Ali--"Moonlight"
Jeff Bridges--"Hell or High Water"
Simon Helberg--"Florence Foster Jenkins"
Dev Patel--"Lion"
Aaron Taylor Johnson--"Nocturnal Animals"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

Viola Davis–“Fences”
Naomie Harris–“Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman–“Lion”
Octavia Spencer–“Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams–“Manchester by the Sea”
Amazon Studios / Roadside Attractions
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

“La La Land”
“Nocturnal Animals”
“Moonlight”
“Manchester By The Sea”
“Hell or High Water”
CBS Films
Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language

“Elle”
“Neruda”
“The Salesman”
“Toni Erdmann”
“Divines”
Sony Pictures Classics
Best Motion Picture – Animated

“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“Sing”
“Zootopia”
Disney
Best Original Score - Motion Picture -"Moonlight"
"La La Land"
"Arrival"
"Lion"
"Hidden Figures"
Best Original Song – Motion Picture

“Can’t Stop the Feeling”–“Trolls”
“City of Stars”–“La La Land”
“Faith”–“Sing”
“Gold”–“Gold”
“How Far I’ll Go”–“Moana”
DreamWorks
Best Television Series – Drama

“The Crown”
“Game of Thrones”
“Stranger Things”
“This Is Us”
“Westworld”
HBO
Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama

Caitriona Balfe–“Outlander”
Claire Foy–“The Crown”
Keri Russell–“The Americans”
Winona Ryder–“Stranger Things”
Evan Rachel Wood–“Westworld”
Netflix
Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama

Rami Malek–“Mr. Robot”
Bob Odenkirk–“Better Call Saul”
Matthew Rhys–“The Americans”
Liev Schrieber–“Ray Donovan”
Billy Bob Thornton–“Goliath”
USA
Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy

"Atlanta"
"black-ish"
"Mozart in the Jungle"
"Transparent"
"Veep"
HBO
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Anthony Anderson–“black-ish”
Gael García Bernal–“Mozart in the Jungle”
Donald Glover–“Atlanta”
Nick Nolte–“Graves”
Jeffrey Tambor–“Transparent”
Amazon
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Rachel Bloom–“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus–“Veep”
Sarah Jessica Parker–“Divorce”
Issa Rae–“Insecure”
Gina Rodriguez–“Jane the Virgin”
Tracee Ellis Ross–“black-ish”
Getty Images
Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

“American Crime”
“The Dresser”
“The Night Manager”
“The Night Of”
“People v. O.J. Simpson”
FX
Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television --

Riz Ahmed--"The Night Of"
Bryan Cranston--"All the Way"
John Turturro--"The Night Of"
Tom Hiddleston--"Night Manager"
Courtney B. Vance--"People v. O.J. Simpson"
AMC
Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Felicity Huffman–“American Crime”
Riley Keough–“The Girlfriend Experience”
Sarah Paulson–“People v. O.J. Simpson”
Charlotte Rampling–“London Spy”
Kerry Washington–“Confirmation”
HBO
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Sterling K. Brown–“People v. O.J. Simpson”
Hugh Laurie–“The Night Manager”
John Lithgow–“The Crown”
Christian Slater–“Mr. Robot”
John Travolta–“People v. O.J. Simpson”
FX
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Olivia Colman–“The Night Manager”
Lena Headey–“Game of Thrones”
Chrissy Metz–“This Is Us”
Mandy Moore–“This Is Us”
Thandie Newton–“Westworld”
HBO