Awards season has begun in style after the 2025 Golden Globe Awards delivered a mix of expected victories and surprising upsets, with Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez and Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist emerging as the evening’s biggest winners.
Emilia Pérez, the Mexico-set Netflix musical that led the nominations with 10 nods, claimed four awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Non-English Language Film. Zoe Saldaña took home the Supporting Actress trophy, while the film’s track, “El Mal”, won Best Original Song.
Not to be outdone, The Brutalist made its mark on the drama categories, with Brady Corbet winning Best Director and Adrien Brody claiming Best Actor in a Drama. The immigrant drama, which received seven nominations, also secured the Best Motion Picture – Drama award.
In TV, FX’s Shogun proved unstoppable once again, sweeping all four categories for which it was nominated. The series’ stars Anna Sawai, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Tadanobu Asano each won acting awards, while the show itself took home Best Drama Series.
In contrast, fan-favorite Only Murders in the Building went home empty-handed despite four nominations, while The Bear managed to secure one win through Jeremy Allen White’s performance.
It wouldn’t have been an award night without some notable surprises, including Fernanda Torres winning Best Actress for I’m Still Here and Demi Moore receiving her first-ever Golden Globe for her role in The Substance. In the technical categories, Challengers surprised with a Best Original Score win for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
The ceremony, hosted by Nikki Glaser, made history by presenting two of its lifetime achievement awards at a separate event. Viola Davis received the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and Ted Danson accepted the Carol Burnett Award at the inaugural Golden Gala, attended by industry legends including Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, and Carol Burnett herself.
You can check out the full list of winners here.
As the first major awards show of the season, these results may offer a hint of what’s to come at the Academy Awards, now that Emilia Pérez and The Brutalist have positioned themselves as potential Oscar frontrunners in the Best Picture race.
The 2025 Oscars will take place on March 2, 2025. I’ll try to review as many nominated films as I can before then, so watch this space.
