BEVERLY HILLS, United States (AFP) — Surreal narco-musical Emilia Perez
and epic immigrant drama The Brutalist were the big winners at the Golden Globes on Sunday as prizes were shared widely across an international crop of movies at the year’s first major showbiz awards gala.

French director Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set Emilia Perez took four prizes, including best comedy or musical film, while The Brutalist was named best drama and also picked up best actor for Adrien Brody, who plays a Hungarian Holocaust survivor.

Emilia Perez won for best non-English language film and best original song, while Zoe Saldana took best supporting actress honors, nudging out her co-star Selena Gomez.

Big wins at the Globes can help movies earn new audiences and build vital momentum toward the Oscars in early March.

Sunday also proved an important night for The Brutalist, which shrugged off concerns over its sprawling runtime to earn best director for Brady Corbet.

“I was told that no one would come out and see it,” said Corbet, of his epic about a Jewish architect who survives Nazi persecution and emigrates to the US.

“No one was asking for a three-and-a-half hour film about a mid-century designer… but it works,” he added.

In one of the night’s biggest upsets, Brazil’s Fernanda Torres won best actress in a drama film for I’m Still Here, which chronicles a family ripped apart by the country’s military dictatorship in the 1970s.

And there was another late-career triumph for Demi Moore, who won best actress in a comedy for body horror flick The Substance, which takes a satirical and often grotesque look at the pressures placed on women by society as they age.

Accepting her prize, the now 62-year-old Ghost star reflected on how decades ago, she had been told by a Hollywood producer that she was “a popcorn actress”.

Comedian Nikki Glaser hosted the ceremony, kicking off the gala with an irreverent, well-received monologue.

“Welcome to the 82nd Golden Globes, Ozempic’s biggest night,” she quipped, referring to the weight-loss drug that has proven wildly popular in famously looks-conscious Hollywood.

The show also honours the best in television, with big wins for historical epic Shogun, showbiz comedy Hacks, and limited series Baby Reindeer.