OVP: Best Original Screenplay (2022)
The Nominees Were...
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans
Todd Field, Tar
Ruben Ostlund, Triangle of Sadness
My Thoughts: I suspect this far into these 2022 write-ups, you've gotten something of a sense of me finding the movies of the year middling, which I don't think is accurate. I don't love the attitude that film took in 2022, with studios increasingly not knowing how to market or treat major films (and generally over-budgeting them, which has become an exacerbated problem in 2023, and one that I suspect is part of the root of the recent (very justified) WGA & SAG-AFTRA strikes). But there are a lot of good movies that were up for Oscars in 2022, and no category better encapsulates that than the Original Screenplay category, which we're going to discuss today, where there was one film that got the Oscar but absolutely no losers in the bunch.
We'll start with Everything Everywhere, one of the box office saviors of 2022 and the eventual AMPAS victor. This film gets into a weird area for me, because I like it (I really do), but I don't love it in the way that virtually everyone else does, and as a result I feel like a hater. There's good stuff here, especially in the way that they structure the relationship between Yeoh & Hsu and Yeoh & Quan, both complicated by decades of love, fights, & taking for granted. But the movie is too repetitive if you focus solely on the screenplay, underlining the main familial arguments at least one too many rounds, and could've been stronger if they'd tightened up the plot a bit.
Tar is a movie that needs that slow build, and handles its runtime better. A lot of the focus for this film is around Blanchett's acting, but much of the growth in this character lies within Todd Field's brilliant script, which gives us the encapsulation of Lydia Tar as someone who has a talent, but also frequently pushes beyond her understanding, and in many places has had a Peter Principle situation that she can no longer get out of; look at the way that she totally makes nonsense sound like lyrical poetry the first time you watch her opening scene, and understand it's meant to be bullshit when you watch it a second time and understand what a fraud Lydia is. That's good writing, leaving hints out in the open that the viewer can only understand as they move along.
Few writers today understand the way to set up proper acts in a movie quite like Tony Kushner, and combined with the nostalgic comprehension of cinema that Steven Spielberg brings to most of his work, The Fabelmans really works well with its script. Like Tar, this movie doesn't scream "writer's movie!" even with Kushner behind the keyboard, as it's very much one of Spielberg's most personal films, but it unpacks beautifully in the script, giving us a tough look at how a child coped with divorce in a complicated childhood, and gave us a blueprint to many of Spielberg's later tics as a filmmaker.
I hate to be one of those blurb-style writers who describes one movie by combining two others, but Triangle of Sadness combines Parasite with Lina Wertmuller's Swept Away in such a way that it's hard not to put the movie in the shadow of those two films (I doubt I'll be able to resist bringing up the titles again when we get to Picture/Director, so forgive me in advance). This comes across quite a bit in the screenplays, for the good or the bad. Like those two films, Triangle of Sadness gives us an unfolding dynamic, one that shows shifting allegiances and priorities, while the undertow of class structure never changes. Like Everything Everywhere, it needs trimming-the middle third is too long, and the final coda involving Harris Dickinson's character also feels like it doesn't quite get the point. But it's an intriguing movie, and one I think of often.
Our final nominee is The Banshees of Inisherin. This is a movie I imagine you'd be able to describe as a "writer's film" without any major objections. This is true for comedies, where the script has to be at the center, and oh is Banshees filled with incredible moments of levity, the main quartet going at each other like a fine Pultizer Prize-winning play. But the script also has a lot to say about the way we rely upon our loved ones to be our loved ones as we get older, and how broken it feels when that becomes an issue. I especially think it does a brilliant way of giving us much of the sadness in our characters, like Barry Keoghan's speech about wanting to fall in love, and the toss-away "there goes that dream" going succinctly in place over something other writers would've made an expositional soliloquy.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes combine adapted and original into one category, but like the year before, virtually all of their nominees are from original screenplays, and we get almost the entire Oscar lineup included here, save for Triangle of Sadness (the adapted Women Talking makes it instead), with Banshees getting the statue. The WGA gave their prize to Everything Everywhere, getting in over The Fabelmans, Nope, Tar, & The Menu, while BAFTA mirrored the Oscar lineup, but gave it to Banshees. In terms of sixth place, I think it was maybe Babylon or Aftersun, but honestly this is such an Oscar lineup that feels like it was in the same wheelhouse as what AMPAS picked in every other category that I wouldn't be surprised if this was overwhelmingly the quintet.
Films I Would Have Nominated: This is such a good list I feel weird complaining about it, to be honest. I definitely would've included Aftersun and Decision to Leave in my own nominations, but I'm not going to fault Oscar for making a lineup this solid.
Oscar’s Choice: Despite Banshees dominance in the precursors, I don't think it was close even if it was second-the Everything Everywhere train could not be denied.
My Choice: I think Banshees' script is most central to its success, and so that will be my tiebreaker over Tar (second) and Fabelmans (third). Behind them would be Triangle and EEAAO, respectively.
Those are my thoughts-what about you? Are you going to stay with me in Ireland, or would you prefer to head into the multiverse with Oscar? Do we think Steven Spielberg ever gets another competitive Oscar? And what was in sixth place in a very established field? Share your thoughts below!
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