Oscar Chart Updates: The Screenplays
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 at 4:00PM by Nathaniel R
After Visual Effects and Makeup and Animated and Documentary Features let's turn out attention to the written word seeking Oscar approval. The critics awards for Best Screenplays are never very telling because many film critic organizations lump Adapted and Originals together. The only films in the Oscar race that have already won Best Screenplay prizes this year (at this writing) are the originals Promising Young Woman (LAFCA) and Never Rarely Sometimes Always (NYFCC and CFCA) and the adaptation that feels like an original i'm thinking of ending things (BSFC, FFCC, and IFJA). (The various screenplay winners from Cannes, Venice, Sundance and Berlinale are not eligible at the Oscars this year.) That's a long way of saying that we have very little to go on in the Oscar race...
Like most branches of the Academy, the writers branch can have trouble differentiating the written word from which movies they love, so Best Picture contenders always have a strong shot at writing nominations. That said, the writing branch can sometimes prove more adventurous than other branches, particularly in regards to original screenplays. Therefore Promising Young Woman, despite being a challenging multi-genre picture whose best shot is clearly in Best Actress, and Never Rarely Sometimes Always despite being a low budget indie have reason to be hopeful. Oscar voters have previously shown lots of love for Charlie Kaufman so even if he is the absolutely wrong director for his own often-brilliant scripts (in this writer's opinion, it should go without saying) the screenplay to I'm thinking of ending things could well score a nomination even if the divisive movie shows up exactly nowhere else. But what else will Oscar go for?
Which films do you think Oscar will like? How would you change these charts if you were making them?
Reader Comments (12)
"I'm Thinking of Ending Things" is so funny, disquieting, and evocative until the third-act "reveal," which is so lazy, cheap, and contemptuous of the audience it almost ruins the movie. I guess the book is to blame, but the screenplay is also the culprit here.
Jonathan -- my main issue with it is not the reveal (though i get your complaint) but that Kaufman's imagination and writing are so dense and intellectual to begin with him that he needs a more rambunctious nimble 'funny' director to interact with the material. Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry only elevated his words by countering them, he merely smothers them with more density and heavy-handed visuals.
I agree with that as well, although I'd argue it has less to do with his intellectualism than his often irritating solipsism and self-loathing. Good directors can mitigate the sourness and gloominess of that.
jonathan -- well said! better than what i was trying to say.
I really hope FIRST COW gets in there, but I worry it’s another LEAVE NO TRACE (which also deserved a screenplay nomination).
Glenn -- yeah, critics giving FIRST COW best picture is nice for a profile boost but the movie is far more likely in screenplay or director it's strange that it can only come up wiht best pic prizes but nothing about why it's a best pic ;)
The mechanics of "Ending Things" are there for a witty, dark, somewhat suspenseful story with a nice twist, but it was executed completely wrong. The car ride was overlong and painful to watch, everyone at the dinner scene was acting like they were in different movies, and the musical interlude was nonsensical in the context it was presented. Indeed Jonze or Gondry could have made a classic with it.
I find the screenplay of "Shine Your Eyes" fascinating but I don't think that Oscars will be interested in it.
I find it sad that movies that people apparently love, like Promising Young Woman or Never Rarely Sometimes Always have to struggle to get cosidered for even Screenplay, while others like Mank and Trial of the Chicago 7, which everyone is less excited about, are probable locks.
Huh? It seems MANK and CHICAGO 7 are the ones struggling for attention. I think the other two will br just fine.
I would nominate Angelica Jade Bastién's pan of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
I think Borat should be higher on the list. Adapted is a tough category this year, so I'm not sure it can make it in. But the first film got a nomination in 2006, so Cohen has his admirers in this branch, and this film has been more acclaimed. Plus, everyone will be watching it due to Bakalova's buzz.
It should be ahead of something like French Exit and probably News of the World (though I haven't seen the latter yet). The White Tiger is also very quiet, though I realize there are two months to go.