As has been evidenced these past few weeks, Before Midnight is a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed and would be
delighted to see listed amongst the major year-end accolades. It has plenty of true emotion, great
acting, and a real message behind it about the fragility of love. It’s wonderful, and while I cannot
promise it will be amongst my end of the year Top 10, I know that it’s good
enough for me to be hoping for it to be on all the televised ceremonies.
However, I don’t want it there fraudulently, which may be what is about
to happen at the Golden Globe Awards.
The Globes, as I’m sure all of you know, separate their contenders
between Drama and Comedy for Best Picture, Actor, and Actress. This is always fun (though I have
long-resisted it for the Oscars, because Oscar doesn’t need more acting or
producing categories and because this is what makes the Globes fun).
Each year, in addition to the regular nominees you’ll see throughout the
remainder of the year, you’ll also get to see an additional set of names-the
Globes get to honor ten actors with nominations, so at least five of these
people won’t be mentioned on Oscar night, so the classifications allow that
someone like Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids or
Emma Stone in Easy A gets credit for
terrific work.
It also means that the Globes have the ability to shape an Oscar race
in a way no other precursor does.
Since Oscar’s Best Actress field almost always has a woman who is
nominated in a Musical or Comedy, the Globes usually add one major contender
into the list with the fifth Drama Actress. Rooney Mara, one could argue, wouldn’t have made the Oscar
race in 2011 had it not been for her fifth place Globe nod pushing her as a
“legitimate contender” for the award.
But the Globes are only fun as long as they actually stick to the
designations, and not just make it about nominating ten random actors and
actresses. In recent years, we’ve
seen a number of films that have contended in the Comedy/Musical race that few
would classify as such. 2010
really saw the kickoff of this with Barney’s
Version, Alice in Wonderland, and The
Tourist all receiving high-profile Comedy nominations when there’s very few
laughs between them. Barney’s Version is questionable, but The Tourist is not funny-the trailer
basically had every joke in the film (it’s also a terrible movie, but let’s not
bring a quality debate into this).
Alice in Wonderland is
lighthearted, but is it really a comedy?
Maybe it was trying to be one, so I’ll slightly let this slide, and
would probably let all three slide if it hadn’t become a recurring theme in
future years.
The next year, probably the most egregious abuse to actually get
nominated was My Week with Marilyn. Absolutely no one left this film
calling it a comedy or a musical-it’s even called a “Drama Film” in the first
line of its Wikipedia page for God’s sake!-yet it received nominations for Best
Picture and Best Actress in that genre.
Seth Rogen mocked its nomination at the podium that year by calling it
the “hilarious My Week with Marilyn,”
and in an awkward twist, the film won the category he was presenting. I’m not here to argue that Michelle
Williams didn’t deserve a nomination in the Best Drama category, but it’s clear
this wasn’t a comedic film, and quite frankly, Williams could have scored the
nod in that field without category fraud (the win would have been much tougher,
though). It is hardly fair to
Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Kristen Wiig, and Charlize Theron, who followed the
rules, to have to compete against a dramatic film just because it has a couple
of musical numbers. So does The Godfather, so should we reclassify it?
Which brings me back to Before
Midnight, which is campaigning as a comedy this year for the Globes. Listen-I get it. Trying to compete
against Saving Mr. Banks and Inside Llewyn Davis is a lot easier than
taking on 12 Years a Slave and Gravity, but this isn’t right. This film is not a comedy. Sure, it has comedic moments, but it’s
a powerful drama. Blue Jasmine, another film that tows
this line (and has far more comedic moments than Before Midnight), did the right thing and moved over to Drama in
their campaigning despite it likely costing them a Best Picture
nomination. Before Midnight should be true to itself, even if it means a miss
for a nomination.
And this goes for the other films I’m going to list, but haven’t seen
quite yet so I won’t pass judgment: August:
Osage County, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and
Saving Mr. Banks each seem like they
could make the jump over, and though I haven’t seen them so I don’t have the
ability to make a judgment call in either direction, I’m a bit pessimistic that
we’re in for a slew of category fraudulence.
Does this rub anyone else the wrong way? Does anyone actually consider Before Midnight a comedy?
Share in the comments!
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