At least 7 films I’ve screened this winter were Black-centric with Black casts and/or directors. And they don’t include the Asian-centric “Minari,” a knock out, wonderful film. Actually, all 7 of the others were top notch, had award winning performances and featured the very best filmmaking of the year.
They were:
Malcolm and Marie
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Judas and the Black Messiah
One Night in Miami
Da 5 Bloods
Miss Juneteenth
And not one of them, not 1, not any, were nominated for Best Drama by the Golden Globes yesterday. That really poses a dilemma. Because the whole last year has been devoted to Black Lives Matter. And coincidentally, Black Films mattered. They were being made and readied for presentation.
None of the filmmakers could have known the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were to galvanize the world. The films were already on the way. But now they’re here, and they were rejected– rejected — by the Golden Globes.
These are well reviewed films, with good to excellent reviews. They are as good or better than any of the five films the Globes chose, from Nomadland to The Father, Mank, Promising Young Woman, and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
In fact, if I were picking the top 5 dramas, only Nomadland and the Chicago 7 movies would be definite. The three others would go into the bottom 5 of 10. I’d add most certainly have Ma Rainey, Minari, and One Night in Miami in that top 5. The others would round out the top 10. So this is a conundrum. How did the Globes go so wrong? How were they so deaf to the reality of the year’s releases? And speaking of deaf, what happened to The Sound of Metal?
And as I wrote yesterday, how awkward will it be for the Hollywood Foreign Press to have Spike Lee’s children handing out awards, but his “Da 5 Bloods” and its star, Delroy Lindo, not to mention Spike, not be part of the show?
Maybe it’s time for the Globes to have a more open dialogue about their selection process.
