“The Revenant,” a 19th-century saga of survival, was the unexpected big winner at Sunday night’s Golden Globe awards, picking up best picture (drama), best director and best actor (drama) for Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred as a 19th-century frontiersman mauled by a bear.

In a year in which no front-runner has seemed to emerge in any category, this singling out of “The Revenant” boded well for the film, by Alejandro Inarritu (last year’s Oscar winner for “Birdman”), as it goes into Thursday’s Oscar nominations. It might especially give a lift to Leonardo DiCaprio, who has too often been snubbed by the Oscars but now might find himself the front-runner.

Best actress in a drama went to Brie Larson for “Room,” a puzzling choice, especially given the heavy hitters in her category: Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”), Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl”), and Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett (“Carol”).

The Golden Globes are chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press, an organization of some 90 or so Hollywood-based journalists who report on movies for foreign publications. They have categories for comedy, which was funny this year — not ha-ha funny, but weird funny — in that all the comedy awards went to dramatic work.

Director Ridley Scott acknowledged as much when his film “The Martian” won the best-picture comedy award. Matt Damon won best actor in a comedy for his work in the same film, and Jennifer Lawrence won best actress in a comedy for the depressing film “Joy.”

In the supporting categories the foreign press did their typical thing: They gave supporting actress to a Brit, in this case Kate Winslet for her performance as Steve Jobs’ assistant, Joanna Hoffman, in “Steve Jobs.” She was fine, but she did nothing close to the astonishing work of Jennifer Jason Leigh (“The Hateful Eight”) in the same category.

But then the foreign press redeemed themselves with the supporting actor prize, which went to Sylvester Stallone (“Creed”). For weeks Stallone has been talked up as a dark horse for an Oscar nomination, but the Globes changed that. Or perhaps the Globes simply revealed that things had already changed, because the telling thing wasn’t that the foreign press gave Stallone the award, but rather the enthusiastic, emotional reaction Stallone got in that room from his peers, who will soon be choosing the Oscar.

“Son of Saul” won best foreign film, and it’s the only sure thing going into next month’s Oscar ceremony. The Hungarian film tells a Holocaust story in an arresting and illuminating way.

The life achievement award went to Denzel Washington, a worthy choice. He was introduced by Tom Hanks, whose beautifully written and delivered speech called Washington the actor of his era, in the pantheon with the likes of Humphrey Bogart. It was all true, and yet it might just as well have been Washington saying it about Hanks.

Host Ricky Gervais frequently remarked that Golden Globes have no meaning. Even so, people choked up and cried and thanked the foreign press.

WINNERS LIST, MOVIES

>> Picture, drama: “The Revenant”

>> Picture, musical or comedy: “The Martian”

>> Actor, drama: Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant”

>> Actress, drama: Brie Larson, “Room”

>> Director: Alejandro Inarritu, “The Revenant”

>> Actor, musical or comedy: Matt Damon, “The Martian”

>> Actress, musical or comedy: Jennifer Lawrence, “Joy”

>> Supporting actor: Sylvester Stallone, “Creed”

>> Supporting actress: Kate Winslet, “Steve Jobs”

>> Foreign language: “Son of Saul” (Hungary)

>> Animated film: “Inside Out”

>> Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, “Steve Jobs”

>> Original score: Ennio Morricone, “The Hateful Eight”

>> Original song: “Writing’s on the Wall” music and lyrics by Sam Smith, Jimmy Napes, “Spectre”

>> Cecil B. DeMille Award: Denzel Washington