Wednesday, December 19, 2002

COMMENTARY

FOOL'S GOLD
IT'S A SMALL WORLD FOR GLOBERS
by Leonard Klady (LAFCA Member)
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Some very unusual things occurred with the announcement of the Golden Globe nominees Thursday.

Now, the Globes for good and ill, have risen in stature and power to second only to the Oscars. Admittedly it's a distant second but the organization has made hay (and reaped a financial bonanza) as the event that presages the really big show. With multiple categories that loosely define films as dramas or musical/comedy it has in recent time served as a short list for Academy members.

The curiosity about its 2002 nominees is that rather than expanding the list of contenders, it's wrapped it in shrink foil. With the exception of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Igby Goes Down, it appears that the group simply didn't see anything produced outside the Hollywood mainstream or its specialized divisions. Also completely shut out were Denzel Washington's fine directorial debut Antwone Fisher, The Rookie (though Dennis Quaid received a nod as a support for Far from Heaven), Narc and Insomnia.

While the group honored the holocaust drama The Pianist as one of the best dramas and the title performance by Adrien Brody was cited, neither its director nor screenwriter made the cut. The Globers - who have a penchant for popular fare - also were surprisingly light in honors for Catch Me If You Can and The Road to Perdition and can anyone explain how Nicholas Nickleby's sole mention was as best musical or comedy?

The race, based on the group's ballot, would appear to be between About Schmidt and The Hours among the dramas and Chicago and Adaptation in other categories. It's hardly reflective of the spectrum of quality work in 2002.

Those who have covered the awards circuit for years can tell you horror stories about how the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press have flexed their muscles and punished or over-praised individuals and films. However, as its profile has risen, one has seen real strides internally to clean up its act and credibility.

That said, it's current slate of nominees gives the appearance of a bygone era when the industry felt it could buy its way onto the ballot. There's something wrong when a group with as diverse a membership as the HFP produces as narrow a group of options. It's not mischief; it's not graft, it's something engrained into the fabric of the organization that continues to support an industry attitude that views the group with wariness and suspicion.

 

 

 

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