75th Golden Globe Awards

The dawn of a new millennium and the music awards keep changing. In past years, award-winning songs from movies invariably topped the charts: “The Theme from Exodus", “A Summer Place", “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing", “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", “(Everything I do) I Do It for You", “The Eye of the Tiger"," “Flashdance, What a Feeling, “The Way We Were", and of course “My Heart Will Go On".

The dawn of a new millennium and the music awards keep changing. In past years, award-winning songs from movies invariably topped the charts: “The Theme from Exodus", “A Summer Place", “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing", “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", “(Everything I do) I Do It for You", “The Eye of the Tiger"," “Flashdance, What a Feeling, “The Way We Were", and of course “My Heart Will Go On".

After getting nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Live Action Short Film category in 2013 for Henry, Montreal film maker Yan England does not disappoint with his feature film debut, 1:54. The film made a splash in French-speaking Canada, generating a wide debate in society about its main theme, bullying in schools and how to prevent it.

The second decade of the new century brings dramatic changes to the industry: international markets become leaders in ticket sales, super hero, horror and action franchises are the studios’ bread-and-butter, and creative talent migrates in droves to the new mobile and home entertainment platforms, the new independent cinema of the 2010s. Forty years after the New Hollywood revolution, a new generation of filmmakers re-focuses cinema, exploring what it means to be human in the 21st century and how to give voices to the themes of inclusiveness and diversity.

Fin de siècle. Beginning with 1988 the Golden Globes and the Academy choices were mostly in sync.

After dithering around with their music awards for so many years — nominations one year, no awards another -- the Hollywood Foreign Press Association finally decided to take the category seriously. Even though the 1970 Golden Globe for best song went to “Jean” from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, sidestepping the Academy’s choice, “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” the HFPA made amends by agreeing on Burt Bacharach’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as best score.

The Brazilian foreign film entry, Bingo: King of Mornings, is a biographical drama written by award-winning writer Luis Bolognesi and Fábio Meira, with a remarkable directorial debut from coveted film editor Daniel Rezende. Bingo is based closely on Arlindo Barreto’s life as Bozo the Clown in the 1980s (changed to Bingo for legal reasons) but is truly a film about the trials and tribulations of fame and success.

Jupiter’s Moon is a Hungarian drama directed by Kornel Mondruczo who also co-wrote the film with Kata Weber.  The film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and competed for the Palme d’Or in the main section.

Breath is a fantastical drama written and directed by native Iranian Narges Abyar. Set in Yazd, Iran, spanning between the 1970s and the end of the 1980s, Breath (Nafas) is a harrowing story about war and childhood as seen through the creative eyes of 9-year-old Bahar (played by Sareh Nour Mousavi), who uses her imagination to dream her way out of her violent reality.

Can anyone deny the role that music plays in molding a blockbuster?  Without that component would the public be inclined to see movies over and over again, which is how one defines a blockbuster? What would the best-loved movies be without music? Can you imagine Gone With The Wind without "Tara's Theme,” The Godfather without Nino Rota’s score, Casablanca without "As Time Goes By?"Isn’t it time we recognize the film composer as an optimum contributor in the making of either a classic or a blockbuster, or better yet, both?Which brings us to the Golden Globe music awards.  Even though the awards themselves were established in 1944, the first music award for Best Original Score was not given until 1948, and then inauspiciously to the great Max Steiner for Life with Father.