Written by Burhan Wazir, New Media, DFI

Anyone watching the Golden Globes last night, expecting a front-runner to emerge for next month’s Oscars, will be no clearer this morning. In an atypical year, the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, instead of rallying around one particular film, lavished praise widely, awarding one trophy each to nine films.

Three awards were given out to “The Artist”, the French homage to Hollywood’s pre-talkie era. Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants”, starring George Clooney, won two prizes, including Best Drama. Equally interesting is the list of acclaimed films which left empty handed, or were overlooked in the nominees list – including “J. Edgar”, “Moneyball”, “The Ides of March” and Terrence Malick’s Palme d’Or winner, “The Tree of Life”.

In fact, the noisy and crowded run up towards the Oscars this year resembles the early stages of a marathon, with a number of films jostling for position. Only Meryl Streep, who won the Best Actress in a Drama award for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady”, “The Adventures of Tintin”, which won the award for Best Animated Film, and the Iranian drama “A Separation”, which picked up Best Foreign Language Film, look certain to repeat their success at the Oscars on February 26.

More predictable was last night’s opening ceremony, hosted for the third year by Ricky Gervais. The comedian, now a Hollywood insider, took delight in mocking his A-list peers. Targets included Jodie Foster and Eddie Murphy: “Who needs the Oscars? Not Eddie Murphy. He walked out on them, he said no, and good for him. But when the man who said yes to ‘Norbit’ says no to you, you know you’re in trouble”.

While the film awards at the Golden Globes garner most attention, television prizes form the bulk of the awards. Last night’s winners included “Downton Abbey”, “Game of Thrones” and “Mildred Pierce”.

To access a full list of winners and nominees, please visit the official website of the annual Golden Globe Awards here.