Film Bitch Awards: The Best Screenplays
Saturday, January 19, 2019 at 4:00PM by Nathaniel R
We just called to tell you you have amazing screenplays.
Movies are much more than their screenplays. There's a reason they call them motion pictures. But no matter what a filmmaker has up their sleeve in terms of visuals or sound, a sturdy platform from which to lift off is crucial. These ten films (and some finalists, too) were already starting at a significant advantage before the first day of shooting due to the calibre of their words, plots, themes, ideas, and structure. Herewith Nathaniel's ballot in both screenplay categories. We don't expect the bulk of these to be Oscar-nominated on Tuesday (let us not weep for Diablo Cody's Tully, for example, because history will be kind to it) but here's hoping that Eighth Grade, The Favourite, First Reformed, BlacKkKlansman, and Can You Ever Forgive Me? (at least) make their respective Oscar shortlists since they appear to have good shots at doing so.
P.S. in case you missed them, the visual categories are half done, and the sound categories are complete. You can also see an ongoing nomination tally as we announce at the bottom of the sound page.
Reader Comments (13)
Wow Nathaniel you are buuuurning through there haha
Excellent choices! Such an imaginative year for original pieces!
Excited for the rest of the film bitch awards!
I'm really enjoying your choices too.
It's such a pity Disobedience will likely not figure on Tuesday. The screenplay and the actors - and the music, which I saw you also chose - all deserve nominations.
And I have everything crossed for First Reformed to make the nominations. Schrader so deserves it.
"let us not weep for Diablo Cody's Tully, for example, because history will be kind to it"
I can't say I agree with this one. Tully was, to me, one of the most frustrating movie-going experiences of 2018. It was a movie I was absolutely adoring for its first two acts, finding it funny and insightful, but it's been a long time since I've been this let down by a third act. It's sad, because there is so much about Tully that works wonders, but the direction the film went left such a sour taste in my mouth that I find it hard to recommend. That and Widows have been my two biggest headscratchers in terms of praise on this site (I guess we all have at least one of those every year, that's what keeps the conversations flowing).
I have to say, I really think Disobedience goes off the grid around when that Cure song starts to play.
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OUT OF TOPIC:
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@Richter Scale
I agree re. Tully - I actually think the third act would've worked fine if it didn't hinge so much on the "gotcha/third act twist" gimmick which has become such a sophmoric way to structure screenplays.
eg. If the 'twist' was revealed at the halfway point, it still would've been a bit of a hard sell in terms of plausibility. But I maybe would've been more prepared to swallow it? It would've felt more like thata part of the story was genuinely engaged with the charcter's psychology and the film would've had more time to build that element into the narrative as a means of psychological enrichment rather than making it the "gotcha gimmick" -- if that makes sense?
Though overall I did actually like the film. I'm not sure that time will be "kind to it" - I think that the silliness of the plot-twist angle will become more glaring - cliches never age well. But the strengths of the first two acts will certainly age well.
On the other hand Widows I did like quite a lot. And I'm almost grateful to this blog for being such a champion of it, because literally everyone I've actually spoken to seems to have hated it to the extent that I'm starting to feel crazy for liking it so much. I actually think - give or take Shame - it's actually McQueen's best film. Certainly his least flawed
Richter & Goran -- we'll have to agree to disagree. I think the "twist" is only a 'gotcha' if you're not buying the character study, which I very much was. I think it was less "gotcha!" and more to quote bob & carol & ted & alice "ohhhh, insight."
I have to say I really like Tully's 3rd act turn as well. The fact that I wasn't expecting one make its impact significantly greater. Plus, it acts as strong commentary on how much we are assuming things would work, especially as non-parents. Overall, the film sat really well with me.
The Death of Stalin not even a Semi-Finalist?
"Sorry to Bother You" falls apart in the third act - it just goes bonkers
The original screenplay noms you have here are a solid slate - I've said it before about Boots Riley, it's no surprise that he wrote a screenplay that makes strong political points but is also good artistically, he did that all the time with The Coup - and the two honorable mentions I've seen (Shoplifters and Hereditary) are strong work.
For Adapted, unfortunately I've only seen Blackkklansmen and Can You Ever Forgive Me? but both are great writing.