OVP: Best Original Screenplay (2020)
The Nominees Were...
Will Berson, Shaka King, Kelly Lucas, & Keith Lucas, Judas and the Black Messiah
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, & Derek Cianfrance, Sound of Metal
Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
My Thoughts: We continue our quest to finish 2020 by the end of the month (I can't do our ten year anniversary without one of my favorite articles to write, a My Ballot!), and we're moving into the writing categories for the 2020 Oscars. Theoretically these should be some of the best of the 2020 contests. While the tech categories we've profiled were largely sidetracked by the pandemic, with VFX-heavy films (and the sound, editing, & makeup skills that come with such pictures) delayed a year to try & preserve some of their box office potential, films centered on writing were moved to the forefront. For original screenplay, that thesis works pretty well. With one exception, this is a good lineup.
Minari, for example, you could argue its best attribute might be its writing (well, the music, so second best). It's rare that we see a film that's about average people just trying to make by without needing to make them extraordinary, which gives the family film trope a fresh perspective. The film is told through the eyes of the family's son David, but I liked that it was a knowing look, feeling like we're rifling through photo albums as an adult rather than truly through a child's eyes is insightful. The narration is trying to get an answer we know we can never get-the need to understand our parents, even though we never truly can.
Aaron Sorkin certainly knows how to write dialogue, but with Chicago 7 more than virtually any other picture, his loquacious, erudite conversations become a drag on the story. Everyone in Chicago 7 sounds exactly the same-in a cast of at least a dozen high-profile stars & character actors with varying acting styles, I couldn't tell them apart, which is a problem given that it's supposed to be about how different men are cracking under the pressure of being tried as a unit. The movie is too long & is completely derailed by a script that feels like its more about its writer showing off his vocabulary than building a story. I've never said this about Sorkin (I have liked some of his work in the past), but the screenplay is the worst aspect of Chicago 7.
Sound of Metal has some things to say, and some of them are worthwhile. The way that it tries to discuss isolation and codependence in the same breath (not just the central romance, but also Ruben's relationship with Joe, which feels similarly-but-subtly unhealthy in some spots) is really strong. Oftentimes with films that talk about loveless relationships we need a breaking point, not just that two people who still care about one another have outgrown what they once had. But the film also doesn't have enough to say about Ruben-he remains too much of a blank vessel in his own journey of self-discovery. Ahmed shouldn't have to do the heavy lifting there-the story should be giving him more opportunity for expression.
Promising Young Woman is definitely the movie I liked the best of these films-if this was a Best Picture category, I'd give it the trophy without question. For writing, I will point out that there is a mild flaw in Fennell's screenplay, where we don't really get to know what Cassie is like without her revenge. This might be a deliberate choice (Promising is partially about how we don't get to know what happens when we choose the one-way road), but it does feel like a slight gap to not let the audience, at the very least, in more. But that's a very small complaint for a film that functions at once as a revenge thriller, romantic-comedy, & social commentary. Particularly the way that the dialogue matches the way we're supposed to feel about Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, & Connie Nielsen's characters...I can't wait to see what Fennell's next movie is like.
Judas is a film that has a fascinating, important subject attached to it, particularly given that this film was released in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. But you can't give Oscars based on a film's subject, and the movie is a mixed bag for me in the way it handles its subject. Arguably the more fascinating character in the film is not Fred Hampton but Bill O'Neal (at least from an outside vantage point), but the writers don't take advantage of that, even with an actor as gifted as LaKeith Stanfield. The film's addendum where we understand that O'Neal continued to inform for years after betraying his "friend" makes it seem like you didn't understand this man at all...and not in a way that helps the story.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes combine adapted and original into one category, with Chicago 7 winning the prize over two other original contenders: Promising Young Woman and Mank. BAFTA went with their own Emerald Fennell for the win, besting Another Round, Mank, Rocks, and Chicago 7, while WGA picked Fennell as well against Judas, Palm Springs, Sound of Metal, & Chicago 7. In terms of sixth place, it has to be Mank, right? Given the writer's demise (it was written by director Christopher Nolan's late father) and it being the nominations frontrunner, its exclusion in this category was both an ominous sign for its ability to win the big prize and the weirdest snub of 2020.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I totally would've found room for Mank-it's a superb script, one that marvelously blends the dreamy recollections of Citizen Kane with the damned tale of Herman Mankiewicz. A home run by my estimation.
Oscar’s Choice: Fennell was able to best Sorkin in the late stretch, taking this trophy and ensuring Chicago 7 would go home empty-handed from the ceremony.
My Choice: It's closer than I would've initially gathered, but I'm going with Promising Young Woman atop Minari, with Judas, Sound of Metal, and Chicago 7 to follow after.
Those are my thoughts-what about you? Are we all happy with the Emerald Fennell win, or does someone want to vouch for a different contender? Is it just me that thinks that Aaron Sorkin keeps getting progressively worse in his cinematic output? And how the hell did Mank miss when it had basically the entire freight train going for it? Share your thoughts below!
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