OVP: Best Adapted Screenplay (2015)
The Nominees Were...
Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, The Big Short
Nick Hornby, Brooklyn
Phyllis Nagy, Carol
Drew Goddard, The Martian
Emma Donoghue, Room
Nick Hornby, Brooklyn
Phyllis Nagy, Carol
Drew Goddard, The Martian
Emma Donoghue, Room
My Thoughts: We head into the Big 8 for the 2015 Oscar Viewing Project this week, with the writing awards being profiled. The films here, despite what I did with the pictures up top, do not all star women, but they are more feminine than you might expect for a category that frequently falls into the "let's talk about men" genre. Really, only one of these films does that in a major way, so we'll get that conversation out of the way first.
The Big Short is not a bad movie. I hated Vice so much as Adam McKay's followup that I frequently think I hated this movie just as much, and have to constantly revisit my review where I actually gave it 3-stars. That being said, its screenplay is not a particularly good one. The movie's reliance upon random asides featuring famous actresses like Margot Robbie & Selena Gomez actually worked to explain the complicated legal and financial aspects of the film that might not sink in to the audience, but the final third of the movie falls apart, almost entirely due to the script not being able to reconcile the characters' suddenly discovered consciences and the fact that they all ended up obnoxiously rich by profiting off the misery of others. This was something that McKay also couldn't coincide with Vice (nominated for eight Oscars, when we start doing the 2018 race I'll spend more time on this movie so that's a conversation for a different day), but while the movie can coast off of rapid comedy & solid performers, I can't give that credit to a script that doesn't know how to end itself.
The Martian also focuses on the story of men, but has enough prominent female supporting characters to not just be a testosterone factory. Like The Big Short, I have to remind myself that I also liked The Martian, and better than I usually give it credit for, though again that's probably not due to the actual script. For two divergent films, the best aspects of their scripts is that they take complicated problems and make them easily digestible for the audience; here, it's trying to explain precisely the problems with rescuing a man from Mars, and how he could possibly survive in what is basically inhospitable territory. The movie, though, relies too heavily on cliches and convenient plot twists to sell its back-half, and while it looks amazing (and Damon is quite good in the lead), I can't say the script is what is elevating the picture.
This is not the case with Carol, a movie that also could have coasted off of fine lead performances and a gorgeous aesthetic, but doesn't. Carol is filled with quotable lines ("flung out of space") and plotting that keeps you guessing right up until the end whether Therese & Carol will eventually end up together. Nagy's dialogue is breathtaking, particularly the early scenes where Carol is trying to pick up the young shopkeeper, but not out herself in the process. The film wouldn't work, and Blanchett's daring performance wouldn't be so captivating, were it not for the heightened, Sirk-esque dialogue and pacing of the plot.
Room is complicated in large part by the claustrophobia of its setting. For the first half of the film, we get a heavily-narrated inner world of Jacob Tremblay's Jack and the complicated aspects of Brie Larson's Joy/Ma not being able to tell what she's thinking, only sharing those thoughts in the second half of the movie. It's easy to claim this movie is simply an acting triumph, but it's really not. Think of that scene where Joy has to come to terms with what happened on national television, and the careful, short way that she speaks, or the way that Jack explains in the way only a child can understand, why he misses Room. These moments wouldn't work without a modulated script, giving us insight into these unusual characters.
The final nominated movie is Brooklyn. Again, you would be forgiven for crediting this as an actor's and director's achievement, as so often happens when it comes to romantic epics, but you'd be wrong. The movie's wonderful three acts (going to America, loving Tony, loving Jim), are flawlessly executed, a truly romantic affair with great dialogue between all and near-perfect plotting. The scenes in Ireland, where Eilis comes to terms with not being a child anymore, and choosing between the planned life with Jim or the life she could create with Tony is marvelous (I adored the scene where her mother talks about how she has no life now, and can just keep sending thank you notes back & forth with a random acquaintance). Ronan's conviction sells the script, but it doesn't need to-the writing stands up for itself.
The Big Short is not a bad movie. I hated Vice so much as Adam McKay's followup that I frequently think I hated this movie just as much, and have to constantly revisit my review where I actually gave it 3-stars. That being said, its screenplay is not a particularly good one. The movie's reliance upon random asides featuring famous actresses like Margot Robbie & Selena Gomez actually worked to explain the complicated legal and financial aspects of the film that might not sink in to the audience, but the final third of the movie falls apart, almost entirely due to the script not being able to reconcile the characters' suddenly discovered consciences and the fact that they all ended up obnoxiously rich by profiting off the misery of others. This was something that McKay also couldn't coincide with Vice (nominated for eight Oscars, when we start doing the 2018 race I'll spend more time on this movie so that's a conversation for a different day), but while the movie can coast off of rapid comedy & solid performers, I can't give that credit to a script that doesn't know how to end itself.
The Martian also focuses on the story of men, but has enough prominent female supporting characters to not just be a testosterone factory. Like The Big Short, I have to remind myself that I also liked The Martian, and better than I usually give it credit for, though again that's probably not due to the actual script. For two divergent films, the best aspects of their scripts is that they take complicated problems and make them easily digestible for the audience; here, it's trying to explain precisely the problems with rescuing a man from Mars, and how he could possibly survive in what is basically inhospitable territory. The movie, though, relies too heavily on cliches and convenient plot twists to sell its back-half, and while it looks amazing (and Damon is quite good in the lead), I can't say the script is what is elevating the picture.
This is not the case with Carol, a movie that also could have coasted off of fine lead performances and a gorgeous aesthetic, but doesn't. Carol is filled with quotable lines ("flung out of space") and plotting that keeps you guessing right up until the end whether Therese & Carol will eventually end up together. Nagy's dialogue is breathtaking, particularly the early scenes where Carol is trying to pick up the young shopkeeper, but not out herself in the process. The film wouldn't work, and Blanchett's daring performance wouldn't be so captivating, were it not for the heightened, Sirk-esque dialogue and pacing of the plot.
Room is complicated in large part by the claustrophobia of its setting. For the first half of the film, we get a heavily-narrated inner world of Jacob Tremblay's Jack and the complicated aspects of Brie Larson's Joy/Ma not being able to tell what she's thinking, only sharing those thoughts in the second half of the movie. It's easy to claim this movie is simply an acting triumph, but it's really not. Think of that scene where Joy has to come to terms with what happened on national television, and the careful, short way that she speaks, or the way that Jack explains in the way only a child can understand, why he misses Room. These moments wouldn't work without a modulated script, giving us insight into these unusual characters.
The final nominated movie is Brooklyn. Again, you would be forgiven for crediting this as an actor's and director's achievement, as so often happens when it comes to romantic epics, but you'd be wrong. The movie's wonderful three acts (going to America, loving Tony, loving Jim), are flawlessly executed, a truly romantic affair with great dialogue between all and near-perfect plotting. The scenes in Ireland, where Eilis comes to terms with not being a child anymore, and choosing between the planned life with Jim or the life she could create with Tony is marvelous (I adored the scene where her mother talks about how she has no life now, and can just keep sending thank you notes back & forth with a random acquaintance). Ronan's conviction sells the script, but it doesn't need to-the writing stands up for itself.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes combine their writing categories so there is no adapted or original distinction, though that doesn't mean that they didn't find room for an additional nominee in Steve Jobs to go next to the original Hateful Eight and Spotlight, as well as the adapted Room and The Big Short (Steve Jobs actually won, making it the first film since 2002's About Schmidt to win the Golden Globe but not take an Oscar nomination). The BAFTA Awards do split their categories, and nearly went for a carbon copy of the Oscars, excluding The Martian in favor of Steve Jobs (weirdly the very-American The Big Short won over the more European Brooklyn). The WGA Awards were relatively in-line with Oscar, though not to the same degree, picking Steve Jobs and Trumbo instead of Room or Brooklyn (The Big Short won again). All of this is to say that if Aaron Sorkin woke up on Oscar nominations morning expecting good news, he had every reason to, and surely was in sixth place.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I probably would have thrown in at least two more films to this group, particularly 45 Years, which is based on a short story and is just harrowing in the way that it finds a couple that loves each other facing a crisis they don't know how to handle, or if they should. I also would have included the gorgeous romantic epic Testament of Youth (based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain), that has a rather earthy quality to its script despite it being a century-old period piece, and I love the flagrantly anti-war aspects of the script (Brittain herself would have approved).
Oscar's Choice: Swept up by the film's clear shot at the Best Picture trophy and the stunts of the script, Adam McKay took this with The Big Short, probably over Room.
My Choice: A solid trio in Carol, Brooklyn, and Room, but Nagy's script is one for the all-timers club so I'd give her gold with Hornby at silver & Donoghue at bronze (Martian, then Big Short, bring up the rear).
Those are my thoughts-what about you? Is everyone sort of in agreement with me that Oscar got it really wrong here, or does someone want to defend The Big Short? How bad is Carol's lack of a Best Picture nomination going to look in ten years, and will we all be grossing about how Adam McKay somehow has an Oscar if he keeps making movies as dreadful as Vice? And what happened with Aaron Sorkin's Oscar quest for Steve Jobs? Share your thoughts below!
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