OVP: Best Original Screenplay (2023)
The Nominees Were...
Justine Triet & Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall
David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer, Maestro
Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik, May December
Celine Song, Past Lives
My Thoughts: Moving into the big eight (this is now certain to be the fastest we've turned through a series, as I have every intention of getting this all published by the end of the month, a two-month turnaround), I think one of the biggest complaints I have about the new ten-wide Best Picture fields comes into focus best in the writing categories. Of the two writing categories, 90% of the nominees came from Best Picture nominees, and had Barbie stayed in original (as I would've included it as...saying it's "adapted" from a toy is a bit specious to me, given there's very little source material associated with a Barbie doll, and if Barbie is adapted, then we should say the same of King Richard and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), it's near certain that it would've been a ten-for-ten carbon copy. This is really bad. I have less overlap in my personal ballots for screenplay (albeit more overlap than I probably should), and that's just one person, not a larger Academy body where there should be more diversity of opinions. We need to figure out a way to have some differentiation-not all of the Best Picture nominees have some of the best writing.
This is true for something like Maestro. The biopic of Leonard Bernstein has some elements that are worthwhile (particularly the cinematography), but it's not well-written. The movie doesn't know how to talk about Bernstein's sexuality, veering occasionally into homophobic with how dismissive it is of his relationships with men (The Imitation Game and Bohemian Rhapsody are other examples of this). This feels like it's so crucial to understanding Bernstein that the rest of the film comes across incomplete. Like King Richard before it, this is a case of the family being too involved with the creation of the movie, wanting it to be a work of legacy more than a work of art.
This isn't a problem for May December, which is clearly based off of the relationship between Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau, but because it's not technically an exact replica, it gets to be far more interesting. The movie's script unfolds in a really knowing way, showing how manipulation can happen even when we want to initially project our own understandings onto characters (particularly Natalie Portman's main actress, craven and yet working toward something we don't understand until the final scenes). I love some of the line readings (Melton's speech about not understanding if he's giving his child a traumatizing memory or not, Portman's justification for a romantic relationship with him)-it's really calculating writing, with lots of sharp double meanings and damning conversations about ethical filmmaking.
This is also true of Past Lives. Celine Song's movie, one that shows us the way we carry our own romantic (and life) expectations around, even after we've long moved past or given up on them, is one of the better films I've seen in a while when it comes to giving us a grown-up look at love. The movie talks about how we cannot be young again, but it does it without spoon-feeding that concept to us, and I love the way that we as an audience are brought along on this romance, eventually realizing that, like the characters, we're never going to totally know what might've happened for these people had life been different...just like our own lost loves.
Alexander Payne's quite famous for his scripts at this point, and there is some of the expected wit throughout The Holdovers to underscore that reputation. Paul Giamatti litters the film with bon mots, and there are some marvelous monologues from Da'Vine Joy Randolph, particularly as she starts to open up to the reality that her dead son will never be home for Christmas again. The writing is really clean, but also needs some mess to make the ending work-we need a better understanding of where the film is going after the credits (we understand the "why" behind Giamatti's decisions...we might need a bit more of the "what next" in order for this to feel like a complete story). Still, solid writing-this could be taught in a college course it's so well-constructed.
Does putting the "Did She Do It?" title card in the opening scenes get blamed on the writers...I genuinely want to know as I'd probably up this a star if it didn't. It's writing, and it's onscreen, so I'm going to put some of the blame on them, and the way they steal much of the film's suspense from the get-go. The way that it wields misogyny as a weapon not just by the characters but against the viewers (I would imagine polling gender lines for the "did she do it?" question would be pronounced) is really good...but the way the film takes too long to get to the inevitable ending is not. I think wanting to keep the character open-ended takes away from Sandra Huller's work, and this is a weird aspect of the film to have honored.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes combine adapted and original into one category, and the winner came from this field with Anatomy of a Fall beating Past Lives (the four other nominees are adapted). The BAFTA's split theirs, with Barbie replacing May December here (it would go adapted for the Oscars), but otherwise a copy of Oscar in both wins & nominees. The WGA Awards, weirdly, were held after the Oscars (I cannot remember the last time this happened), so they knew what would happen, and because of guild rules (that largely preclude subtitled films) we had The Holdovers winning here, with Air & Barbie replacing Anatomy of a Fall & Maestro. In sixth place, I think it was Air, and not just because it's the only new name in the precursors. Beyond the Top 5, this was a weak field with very few Oscar contenders, and this feels like a spot they would've added a new name.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Yes, The Holdovers is genuinely funny in parts, but it would've been cool if we'd had room for the funniest film of the year, Emma Seligman & Rachel Sennott's destined-to-be-a-classic Bottoms, which deserved one of these spots.
Oscar’s Choice: The early dominance of Anatomy of a Fall at the Globes carried all season, and brought it back to the Dolby, stopping Alexander Payne from getting his third writing statue.
My Choice: This is a tough call between May December and Past Lives, and I'm going to give it to the former because I think it does a slightly better job of using audience expectations in creative ways, but either would've been a really cool Oscar winner. Behind these two are The Holdovers, Anatomy of a Fall, and then Maestro.
Those are my thoughts-what about you? Do you want to join Oscar with the (potential) French killer, or would you rather join me on the roof with Charles Melton? Is everyone kind of on the same page that we need to shake up these nominees a little bit again as 90% overlap is too much? And if it wasn't Air in sixth place...what was? Share your thoughts below!
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