What's more original than a cooking rat?
(Credit: Disney/Pixar)
From: Pais, Matthew
To: Berkshire, Geoff
Subject: RE: Oscars
Come on, Geoff, where's the anger? Isn't this the time we're supposed to lament all the movies that got snubbed and how the Oscars never get it right, yadda yadda?
Wait a moment. You're right; 2007 was a great year for movies, and the best original screenplay category did a smashing job of rewarding original voices.
"Lars and the Real Girl," while a bit hard to swallow, deftly handles a subject that could have been screwed up in so many ways. "Michael Clayton" is as precise and efficient a script as any of last year, making a familiar situation—legal eagles confront their conscience, or don't—rich and hauntingly real.
And you, "Mr. 'Ratatouille' is my number one movie of the year" will certainly be glad to hear that it would be my pick in this category too. How often does the script for an animated movie, or any movie, pack so many brilliant lines and complete surprises around every turn? Not to mention lending itself to stunning animation and performances.
That said, "Juno" will win. Backlash, schmacklash.
As for those rip-off artists (kidding) in the adapted screenplay category, I think we both agree that "Atonement" has a great first act and otherwise doesn't quite work as a whole. Though you may not agree when I say "There Will Be Blood" lacks depth and barely deserves to be called an adaptation anyway—Paul Thomas Anderson did so much to make the source material, Upton Sinclair's "Oil!," his own.
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is pretty brilliantly done but I hesitate at the elements that writer Ronald Harwood manufactured for the story. (In my mind, director Julian Schnabel is the one who deserves some kind of recognition.) Sarah Polley's script for "Away From Her" is beautiful but the movie's more of a performance piece than a writing effort.
Besides, in a competitive year all around "No Country for Old Men" is still the front-runner in a lot of races and seems like a pretty sure thing to me. And, dare I say, it deserves it too.
