OVP: Best Original Screenplay (2018)
The Nominees Were...
Deborah Davis & Tony McNamara, The Favourite
Paul Schrader, First Reformed
Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, & Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
Adam McKay, Vice
My Thoughts: We weirdly have under-discussed a few of the major contenders for Best Picture in 2018. Though some (Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star is Born, Roma) were featured in a number of the technical categories, Green Book and Vice, two of the principle competitors for the top prize, ended up with only a smattering of conversation, and as a result we're going to start with these two films today, both of whom are going to dominate the final four weeks of our articles about Oscar's 2018 race before we get to their ultimate showdown.
Green Book is a conundrum, because on its surface (from a purely aesthetic position) it's not a bad movie. The film is handsomely-made, it has watchable actors, it's not overly long and the script (within the confines of its own world) makes structural sense. It's just a film that only worked forty years ago. Green Book is what Republicans publicly profess they want conversations about race to be-simple, inelegant, and devoid of any substance. The movie literally has the gaul to have a white man try to teach cultural stereotypes to a black man, and play it for comedy, and it has a huge second act struggle when they make one of the main characters gay...and does nothing with this turn. It's the sort of movie that would've been discussed but ultimately forgotten were it not also the winner of the Best Picture Oscar, therefore living eternally in infamy as one of Oscar's worst choices.
That being said, I'd take Green Book over Vice in the writing department, if only because Green Book's plot makes sense. Vice is a jumbled mess of a movie, absolutely pivoting from fourth well exposition to lazy narration without any consistency. Green Book is a problematic movie, Vice is a bad one, though its coarse, "shame on you, not on me" style politics is also leaning toward the reprehensible. Think of the film's final moments, where a fictional Dick Cheney chastises the audience for allowing him to happen (which is rich coming from the guy who spent that era making Anchorman and Step Brothers, hardly the kind of social issue films that were going to change America's minds). Vice is gross, a series of bad impulses from a guy who won an Oscar & suddenly thought all of his ideas were genius.
Paul Schrader, the man behind Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, & Affliction had somehow never been cited for an Oscar until 2018, when he was nominated for First Reformed. First Reformed bears a lot of the hallmarks of Schrader's previous work: bleak, unbending, ruthlessly political while never relenting. It's not a film to be loved, and it's occasionally a hard film to watch. But that doesn't negate the power of his writing, and the way that he embodies the struggles individuals have with global problems (whether they be climate change, like in First Reformed, or more recently things like the pandemic or the rise of authoritarianism in the United States). There is a level of truth in First Reformed that will make you squirm, but great film isn't always comforting, and Schrader more than anyone knows this.
The Favourite is a much easier sit, even if there's no lack of cringe within its celluloid. All of Yorgos Lanthimos' films are brimming with shock & story, but The Favourite is my, well, favorite of his pictures precisely because of the dialogue. The lines that are uttered by Stone, Weisz, & Colman (and what the hell, Nicolas Hoult too) are delicious-a game of cat-and-mouse while the rest of the world can simply watch from the sidelines, all of their fates made by these women. Using a splash of modernity to keep the absurdity alive in even the darkest chapters of the movie, Davis & McNamara quickly world-build a strange, cloistered universe where only one woman can possibly come out on top (even if no one will truly win).
Roma is our final nominee, and it's a strange choice for a nomination. No one thinks "Roma" and goes "what a great script"-the cinematography, sound, art direction...this is where Roma's calling cards lie. But mood & ambience are things that you need a dedicated screenwriter to capture. Roma is the story of two worlds colliding, two women's lives changing dramatically & the way that each one is allowed to handle such a situation. That Cuaron tells that story not just through mood, but is able to convey it in his story without that plot getting lost is impressive. No, the script in Roma is not the headliner of the picture, but that doesn't mean the script itself isn't an achievement.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes combine adapted and original into one category, though they almost could've skipped it here as all-but-one of the nominees was an original title, including the winning Green Book and the three losers (Roma, The Favourite, & Vice). BAFTA splits the two categories, and went for a near carbon copy of the Oscar list, skipping only First Reformed in favor of Cold War, and giving the trophy to The Favourite. The WGA went completely on its own, preferring Eighth Grade as its winner, and alongside Green Book, Roma, & Vice is A Quiet Place. In terms of sixth place, I'm going to assume it was Eighth Grade, and considering Bo Burnham's level of future celebrity, this is a near-miss that's going to age poorly. It's easier to believe it was Eighth Grade than Peter Morgan's atrocious treatment of Bohemian Rhapsody getting that fifth slot instead (though that's plausible).
Films I Would Have Nominated: We are not that far away from the My Ballot lists, so I'm not going to give away all of my cards here, but I'll just say that most (but not all) of these would disappear for me (this lineup is not representative of how good original screenplay was in 2018), and to name-check at least one picture, it's a damned shame that Oscar has no real taste when it comes to horror as Hereditary by Ari Aster would've been such a worthy inclusion in this lineup.
Oscar’s Choice: Showing that it would soon go down as one of Oscar's worst choices, Green Book takes the prize that would be its ticket to Best Picture (over Vice).
My Choice: The Favourite is everything a great screenplay should be, and it is my winner. Behind it I'll go Roma slightly over First Reformed, with Green Book and Vice following.
Those are my thoughts-what about you? I feel like my corner is going to be more popular here, but are you with the regal ladies of The Favourite or does someone want to cheerlead for Green Book? Why did it take Paul Schrader so long to get an Oscar nomination (and for a film that was cited nowhere else)? And how long before Bo Burnham joins him in that club? Share your thoughts below!
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