OVP: Best Original Screenplay (2005)
The Nominees Were...
Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco, Crash
George Clooney & Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck
Woody Allen, Match Point
Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale
Stephen Gaghan, Syriana
George Clooney & Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck
Woody Allen, Match Point
Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale
Stephen Gaghan, Syriana
My Thoughts: We'll continue to steam ahead today in the 2005 Oscar Viewing Project with a shift over to original screenplay, and weirdly a list of films we haven't discussed at yet. While there's two Best Picture nominees, three of these movies have not shown up despite us being well over the halfway-point of this series, and only one of them we'll hear from again (in our next article). But before we discuss these three movies, I want to get into the two that have been a mainstay, and are up a few more times before we're out.
I'm just going to rip the bandaid off and start with Crash. The screenplay of Crash is its weakest asset. Casual history is going to probably be kinder to the film than it deserved, assuming that it was "of the time" to paint people and racial interactions between the film's characters as well-intentioned but prosaic, but we knew in 2005 that this film was already dated. Portraying all of the characters as two-dimensional, and trying to excuse their egregious behavior by giving non-related troubles in their lives (like Matt Dillon's racist cop somehow being redeemable because he's nice to his dad?!?) is unforgivable. This film takes the multi-storyline approach that worked so well with Traffic and creates an insensitive, frequently racist, tragedy of a picture, one that crafts thinly-etched characters as if they are full of meaning.
Good Night, and Good Luck, on the other hand, finds a way to make otherwise two-dimensional characters full of feeling. There's not a lot of need to have a well-matched arsenal of supporting performances here-the main focus is on Edward R. Murrow, and his attacks on Joseph McCarthy. But the film meanders and gives us side stories that add to the flavor of the story, and also keep Murrow central but unknowable, a towering figure in the film that guides us through, but isn't where we're seeing foibles & imperfections. This makes him almost mythic, and it also gives the film an understated depth upon revisit (something I don't normally do for biopics, but will oftentimes do for this movie). The writers take a spin on the biopic standard, and pretty much all of their risks pay off in giving us a smoother tale of this man's life.
Match Point marked a comeback for Woody Allen. Since Annie Hall, Allen's biggest gap between Oscar nominations was from 1997's Deconstructing Harry and his creative comeback in Match Point (he'll tie this record if he isn't nominated at one of the next two Oscars...which considering his last film didn't even get a release date in the United States, seems certain). The movie is intriguing-I liked this kind of noir-based thriller, and it's not a comedy at all (much more a dramatic thriller), which opened up a new world for Allen, whose humor at this point was becoming a bit stale. The ending doesn't work for the film, as it's too complete for a movie with a lot of open ends, but there's a reason this was considered a comeback for Woody-it's a very good movie, and a well-constructed screenplay.
The Squid and the Whale is a dour affair. The movie is a semi-autobiographical film from Noah Baumbach, who tells a fictionalized version of his parents' divorce in the 1980's. The script is filled with strong dialogue, and the fights between Laura Linney's Joan & Jeff Daniels' Bernard are filled with good interplay. I do feel like the story itself goes into too many directions (the whole Walt emulating Bernard, and then having a self-epiphany felt too "cinematic" for a movie that wants to ground itself in reality), but I liked this screenplay, and respect it, even if there's no way to fall in love with it (it also serves as a weird companion piece to Baumbach's other Oscar-blessed tribute to divorce, Marriage Story).
Syriana is the other film that clearly is trying to be Traffic amongst these nominees, directed by the earlier film's screenwriter Stephen Gaghan, who was nominated here. Syriana struggles in ways Traffic did not though. For starters, the novelty has worn off, and the stories don't seem to blend in the same way that Traffic did. The earlier film not only has plots that run together, but the plots juxtapose creatively against each other, which doesn't happen here, and the ending of Syriana is long. The movie's best part is Matt Damon's sequence as an energy analyst, and though we'll get there next week, he's the one that should have been getting the nominations for this movie.
I'm just going to rip the bandaid off and start with Crash. The screenplay of Crash is its weakest asset. Casual history is going to probably be kinder to the film than it deserved, assuming that it was "of the time" to paint people and racial interactions between the film's characters as well-intentioned but prosaic, but we knew in 2005 that this film was already dated. Portraying all of the characters as two-dimensional, and trying to excuse their egregious behavior by giving non-related troubles in their lives (like Matt Dillon's racist cop somehow being redeemable because he's nice to his dad?!?) is unforgivable. This film takes the multi-storyline approach that worked so well with Traffic and creates an insensitive, frequently racist, tragedy of a picture, one that crafts thinly-etched characters as if they are full of meaning.
Good Night, and Good Luck, on the other hand, finds a way to make otherwise two-dimensional characters full of feeling. There's not a lot of need to have a well-matched arsenal of supporting performances here-the main focus is on Edward R. Murrow, and his attacks on Joseph McCarthy. But the film meanders and gives us side stories that add to the flavor of the story, and also keep Murrow central but unknowable, a towering figure in the film that guides us through, but isn't where we're seeing foibles & imperfections. This makes him almost mythic, and it also gives the film an understated depth upon revisit (something I don't normally do for biopics, but will oftentimes do for this movie). The writers take a spin on the biopic standard, and pretty much all of their risks pay off in giving us a smoother tale of this man's life.
Match Point marked a comeback for Woody Allen. Since Annie Hall, Allen's biggest gap between Oscar nominations was from 1997's Deconstructing Harry and his creative comeback in Match Point (he'll tie this record if he isn't nominated at one of the next two Oscars...which considering his last film didn't even get a release date in the United States, seems certain). The movie is intriguing-I liked this kind of noir-based thriller, and it's not a comedy at all (much more a dramatic thriller), which opened up a new world for Allen, whose humor at this point was becoming a bit stale. The ending doesn't work for the film, as it's too complete for a movie with a lot of open ends, but there's a reason this was considered a comeback for Woody-it's a very good movie, and a well-constructed screenplay.
The Squid and the Whale is a dour affair. The movie is a semi-autobiographical film from Noah Baumbach, who tells a fictionalized version of his parents' divorce in the 1980's. The script is filled with strong dialogue, and the fights between Laura Linney's Joan & Jeff Daniels' Bernard are filled with good interplay. I do feel like the story itself goes into too many directions (the whole Walt emulating Bernard, and then having a self-epiphany felt too "cinematic" for a movie that wants to ground itself in reality), but I liked this screenplay, and respect it, even if there's no way to fall in love with it (it also serves as a weird companion piece to Baumbach's other Oscar-blessed tribute to divorce, Marriage Story).
Syriana is the other film that clearly is trying to be Traffic amongst these nominees, directed by the earlier film's screenwriter Stephen Gaghan, who was nominated here. Syriana struggles in ways Traffic did not though. For starters, the novelty has worn off, and the stories don't seem to blend in the same way that Traffic did. The earlier film not only has plots that run together, but the plots juxtapose creatively against each other, which doesn't happen here, and the ending of Syriana is long. The movie's best part is Matt Damon's sequence as an energy analyst, and though we'll get there next week, he's the one that should have been getting the nominations for this movie.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes combine adapted and original into one category, and they found room for three nominations for originals: Crash, Match Point, and Good Night, and Good Luck (though ultimately Brokeback Mountain was the winner). BAFTA splits out theirs, with Crash winning (despite it being a very American film, which they usually wouldn't have condoned at the time), beating Cinderella Man, Good Night, and Good Luck, Mrs. Henderson Presents, and due to release date issues, 2004's Hotel Rwanda (that will happen more as we move back in Oscar history as the BAFTA's would frequently get the movie the year after it was released in America). The WGA went with Crash as its winner, besting The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Cinderella Man, Good Night, and Good Luck, and The Squid and the Whale, leaving us with the impression that Cinderella Man was the movie that nearly made this list (a conclusion I agree with).
Films I Would Have Nominated: I was not impressed overall with the original screenplay lineups of any awards body in 2005, and would have gone a bit on a limb here by nominating three foreign-language films. Cache is ingenious and would've been an easy winner for me in this category (still Michael Haneke's best movie, and that's saying something), while L'Enfant and Paradise Now are both thrilling, complicated (if imperfect stories) that tower above much of the rather routine work nominated by Oscar.
Oscar’s Choice: Crash, probably in a wash over Good Night, and Good Luck.
My Choice: A relatively easy call for Good Night, and Good Luck, though Match Point is no slouch and gets a solid silver, followed by The Squid and the Whale, Syriana, and Crash.
Those are my thoughts-what about you? Are you with me that Good Night, and Good Luck has aged the best of this bunch, or are you over on Team Crash? Do you think we'll ever see another Woody Allen nomination (or even a Woody Allen movie released domestically)? And don't you wish that Oscar was free-flowing with nominations for foreign language films here as he was in the 1960's? Share your thoughts below!
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