Japanese drama ‘Shogun’ wins four Golden Globes

Japanese drama ‘Shogun’ wins four Golden Globes. January. 07, 2025 07:57. by ??? ?? hoho@donga.com.
‘Squid Game 2,’ a finalist for Best Picture in the TV Drama category, missed out at the Golden Globes this year. The Best Picture award went to ‘Shogun,’ a 17th-century Japanese drama that won across 18 categories at the Emmy Awards last year.

‘Squid Game’ Season 2 did not win the Best Picture award at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards held in Los Angeles on Sunday (local time). Season 1 was nominated in three categories at the 79th Golden Globe Awards in 2022, including Best Picture in TV Drama, Best Actor (Lee Jung-jae), and Best Supporting Actor (Oh Young-soo), and won the Best Supporting Actor Award. This year, however, it was only nominated for Best Picture.

The work that attracted the most attention at this year’s Golden Globe Awards was ‘Shogun,’ produced by Disney’s cable channel FX. It became the center of attention, winning not only Best Picture but also Best Actor (Hiroyuki Sanada), Best Actress (Anna Sawai), and Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Tadanobu Asano).

‘Shogun’ won 18 Emmys, the record for the most awards won at one show of all time, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress at the Emmy Awards, the most prestigious award in the U.S. broadcasting industry. It is praised as a Japanese version of ‘Game of Thrones’ as it deals with Japanese history and culture while adding Western perspectives, directing, and visual beauty.

American actress Demi Moore gained the spotlight at the awards. She won the Best Actress Award in the Musical or Comedy Film category for ‘Substance,’ which depicts the story of a woman trying to regain her youth. She has received her first Golden Globe acting award past the age of 60.

Moore recalled an exchange with a movie producer about 30 years ago who called her a “popcorn actress.” “At that time, I made that mean that this wasn’t something that I was allowed to have,” she said of her win, with tears in her eyes.

The film ‘Emilia Pérez,’ which depicts the story of the head of a Mexican drug cartel who restarts his life to avoid investigative authorities, also won four awards, including Best Picture in the Musical/Comedy Film category, Best Supporting Actress (Zoey Saldana), Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Original Song. The film ‘Brutalist,’ a story of the American dream of a Jewish architect who survived the Holocaust, won Best Director in the Motion Picture category (Brady Covey), Best Picture in a Motion Picture Drama category, and Best Actor in a Drama category (Adrien Brody).