Los Angeles (AFP)
The film "Mank" came on Wednesday at the top of the nominations for the Golden Globes, marked this year by a strong presence of women in the selection of directors and the ever-growing weight of Netflix.
Directed in black and white by David Fincher for Netflix, "Mank" explores the golden age of Hollywood by following screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, played by Gary Oldman, and the creation of the famous film "Citizen Kane" by Orson Welles.
With six nominations, it is one head ahead of another feature film produced by the video-on-demand platform, "The Chicago Seven" by Aaron Sorkin, competing in five categories.
The announcement of Golden Globe nominations traditionally signals the start of award season in Hollywood, shaken up this year by the coronavirus pandemic and the postponement of many big productions.
The absence of sizes has made as expected the game of feature films from streaming platforms which have visibly benefited from the confinement: Netflix garners 22 selections, against 17 last year, while its competitor Amazon Prime climbs to second place (7 nominations) with a hat-trick for "One Night in Miami" and "Borat 2".
In the running for his portrayal of the fictional Kazakh journalist, Briton Sacha Baron Cohen landed a second nomination for the very serious "The Seven of Chicago".
The 2021 nominations podium is completed by "The Father", an adaptation of the play by Frenchman Florian Zeller with Anthony Hopkins, "Nomadland" by Chloe Zhao and "Promising Young Woman" by Emerald Fennel, with four nominations each.
A feminist thriller set against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, "Promising Young Woman" stood out with selections in the categories of Best Dramatic Film, Best Director, Screenplay and Best Actress for Carey Mulligan.
The latter will have on its way Frances McDormand for "Nomadland" and Viola Davis for "Le Blues de Ma Rainey".
On the men's side, the late Chadwick Boseman, made world famous by "Black Panther", will also defend the colors of this film on the middle of the blues in Chicago of the 1920s.
In this hotly contested category this year, we find heavyweights like Anthohny Hopkins and Gary Oldman as well as the French Tahar Rahim, noticed in "Designated guilty", by Kevin Macdonald.
- Women directors take power -
Last year, the Globes, awarded by some 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, came under heavy criticism for totally snubbing women in the "Best Director" category for a motion picture.
Chloe Zhao, Emerald Fennel and Regina King ("One Night in Miami") have this year washed away the affront by carving out a place in this category where they are therefore in the majority, alongside David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin.
Until this 78th edition, only five women had managed to make their way into this prominent category.
The Golden Globes, which have the particularity of distinguishing between "dramatic films" and "comedies" for certain categories, are among the most coveted awards in American cinema: they are a major indicator of films and actors having a good chance of obtaining the famous golden statuette of the Oscars.
Foreign films are also grouped into a separate category where "Minari", which features an American family of Korean descent settling in the countryside, could experience the same success as "Parasite" last year.
There is also "Deux", a love story between two lesbians in their seventies which intelligently oscillates between an intimate film and a thriller, chosen by France to defend its colors at the Oscars.
In the long list of Golden Globe nominations for television, Netflix still dominates head and shoulders with 20 selections against seven to its challenger HBO.
The British royal family won with "The Crown" and six nominations, ahead of "Welcome to Schitt's Creek".
The awards will be presented on February 28, at a virtual ceremony from Beverly Hills, nearly two months behind the usual schedule but still before the votes for the selection to the Oscars have started.
© 2021 AFP