Best Screenplay

Started by Jeremy Blackman, April 18, 2006, 02:16:30 AM

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Jeremy Blackman


Best Screenplay: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana, Annie Proulx)

THE NOMINEES

Brokeback Mountain
Capote
A History of Violence
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Syriana

Split Infinitive

Not that I'm disappointed, but I guess I'm surprised that Brokeback Mountain took this category on this site.  I thought History of Violence was going to take it home.  I'm curious about why people voted for Brokeback Mountain over the other films (especially Syriana).
Please don't correct me. It makes me sick.

godardian

Quote from: Split Infinitive on April 18, 2006, 05:28:50 PM
Not that I'm disappointed, but I guess I'm surprised that Brokeback Mountain took this category on this site.  I thought History of Violence was going to take it home.  I'm curious about why people voted for Brokeback Mountain over the other films (especially Syriana).

For me, having read the short story, it was almost unbelievable how well McMurtry and Ossana captured the spirit of the story while expanding it to feature length. It may not have been as ambitious as the other screenplays, but it was the most complete, the most "whole." Michelle Williams called it "the most perfect script I've ever read," "perfect," "flawless." Syriana was much more... tricky and certainly not unimpressive, but I actually wouldn't say that it's as accomplished.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

RegularKarate

Seeing as how you numb nuts couldn't even manage to get Squid and the Whale nominated, this is a good alternative.

modage

yeah squid couldnt get any love from xixax.  :yabbse-sad:
proulx is a bitch.  :yabbse-undecided:
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

godardian

Quote from: modage on April 18, 2006, 10:02:34 PM
proulx is a bitch.  :yabbse-undecided:

...in exactly the same way Hemingway was an asshole, so we shouldn't mind or be at all surprised.

I'm sure we've all heard the utterly accurate "man who speaks his mind is 'strong' or even 'heroic,' woman who speaks her mind is a 'bitch'" speech many times before, so I'll just leave it at that tiny summary....

She had nothing to do with the screenplay, it should be pointed out. She was simply outspokenly grateful that McMurtry and Ossana did such a fine job with it. Now, when one is a "bitch," one's openly expressed gratitude is at much more of a premium, I would think.  :)
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Pas

What the hell these Xixax awards are the shittiest ever.

Cilian Murphy, Naked best DVD, New World for director and best film and now this.

Split Infinitive

Quote from: godardian on April 18, 2006, 05:46:10 PMFor me, having read the short story, it was almost unbelievable how well McMurtry and Ossana captured the spirit of the story while expanding it to feature length. It may not have been as ambitious as the other screenplays, but it was the most complete, the most "whole." Michelle Williams called it "the most perfect script I've ever read," "perfect," "flawless." Syriana was much more... tricky and certainly not unimpressive, but I actually wouldn't say that it's as accomplished.
Brokeback Mountain reminded me of the great stories of the 1940s and 1950s -- very conventionally structured, even a little predictable, but so well-executed that I couldn't help but be taken in.  The characters behave exactly as they should, as real people would behave. Considering the time span of the film, it's doubly impressive.  I never read the short story, but having read the movie, I'm in an interesting position: I'm intrigued enough to consider reading the story, but the movie was so good, I'm not sure I'm missing anything by not reading the story.  I guess I thought that Brokeback's conventional narrative would have earned it too many detractors on this site, and I was pleasantly surprised.  Syriana was the only film besides Brokeback Mountain (of the five nominees) that I had to seriously consider (I voted for Syriana).  I think what got me the most about Syriana is that I could imagine it being almost more engrossing as a novel or screenplay than the film.  Considering the scope, I was thoroughly impressed with Gagahan's ability to inject his characters with any dimension at all, let alone the degree to which he succeeded.  Many of them are barely three-dimensional, but the ones that are are invested with the vitality of the structure and thrust of the overall narrative.  I'm actually pleased that History of Violence did not win.  I liked it, but didn't take the film as seriously as most of the film buff community seemed to do.
Please don't correct me. It makes me sick.

pete

SPOILER

I didn't think it was conventionally structured at all.  I mean, I didn't think the movie was going to continue for 20 minutes after the guy died.  the movie had a "faux climax" with the I wish I knew how to quit you monologue, but the real image the movie was building towards was just that one look on heath ledger's face at the very end.  and then the credits rolled right after that.  that was pretty unconventional for me.  all that tension and plot development were actually just decoys to take the audience to as far as the death.  I've never seen a screenplay working so hard for the last page before.  I mean, I guess Sirk's melodramas were a little bit like that, but this was one focused screenplay, funneling 30 years for one mugshot.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Split Infinitive

Quote from: pete on May 11, 2006, 02:18:17 AMSPOILER

I didn't think it was conventionally structured at all.  I mean, I didn't think the movie was going to continue for 20 minutes after the guy died.  the movie had a "faux climax" with the I wish I knew how to quit you monologue, but the real image the movie was building towards was just that one look on heath ledger's face at the very end.  and then the credits rolled right after that.  that was pretty unconventional for me.  all that tension and plot development were actually just decoys to take the audience to as far as the death.  I've never seen a screenplay working so hard for the last page before.  I mean, I guess Sirk's melodramas were a little bit like that, but this was one focused screenplay, funneling 30 years for one mugshot.
I guess whenever I watch a movie where I can tell where the entire plot is going from the minute the projector starts rolling, I call it "conventional."  Maybe that's not precisely the right term, but unlike a lot of film buffs, coventionality doesn't always bother me.  Indeed, sometimes nothing pleases me more than a good, old-fashioned story.  Which is what Brokeback Mountain is.  I would never make the argument that Roger Ebert is the foremost critic of our time, but one of his best phrases is one that I think holds generally true: It's not what a movie is about, but how it is about it.  I could tell you from the moment I saw him that Jack Twist was going to die.  I could tell you that Ennis would get divorced before he even got married.  I could tell you halfway through the film that Ennis's daughter would be his potential salvation.  I could even marginally predict where the pivotal scenes would come.  Etc., etc.  The thing is, though, the way the script put everything together (and a lot of the credit goes also to Ang Lee and his performers), it worked.  More than worked, it exceeded the conventions.  I loved it.  Because it was conventional, but true.  There are plenty of biopics that funnel decades into two hours, but not all of them do it successfully.  Brokeback Mountain had a similar structure, but hit it out of the park.
Please don't correct me. It makes me sick.

godardian

Quote from: Split Infinitive on May 11, 2006, 05:50:29 PM
Quote from: pete on May 11, 2006, 02:18:17 AMSPOILER

I didn't think it was conventionally structured at all.  I mean, I didn't think the movie was going to continue for 20 minutes after the guy died.  the movie had a "faux climax" with the I wish I knew how to quit you monologue, but the real image the movie was building towards was just that one look on heath ledger's face at the very end.  and then the credits rolled right after that.  that was pretty unconventional for me.  all that tension and plot development were actually just decoys to take the audience to as far as the death.  I've never seen a screenplay working so hard for the last page before.  I mean, I guess Sirk's melodramas were a little bit like that, but this was one focused screenplay, funneling 30 years for one mugshot.
I guess whenever I watch a movie where I can tell where the entire plot is going from the minute the projector starts rolling, I call it "conventional."  Maybe that's not precisely the right term, but unlike a lot of film buffs, coventionality doesn't always bother me.  Indeed, sometimes nothing pleases me more than a good, old-fashioned story.  Which is what Brokeback Mountain is.  I would never make the argument that Roger Ebert is the foremost critic of our time, but one of his best phrases is one that I think holds generally true: It's not what a movie is about, but how it is about it.  I could tell you from the moment I saw him that Jack Twist was going to die.  I could tell you that Ennis would get divorced before he even got married.  I could tell you halfway through the film that Ennis's daughter would be his potential salvation.  I could even marginally predict where the pivotal scenes would come.  Etc., etc.  The thing is, though, the way the script put everything together (and a lot of the credit goes also to Ang Lee and his performers), it worked.  More than worked, it exceeded the conventions.  I loved it.  Because it was conventional, but true.  There are plenty of biopics that funnel decades into two hours, but not all of them do it successfully.  Brokeback Mountain had a similar structure, but hit it out of the park.

Andrew Sarris, a good candidate for foremost or at least top-notch critic, said what Roger Ebert apparently paraphrased, but in a more eloquent and quotable (not to mention grammatical) way: "It's not 'what happens,' it's how it happens."

I didn't exactly find that Ennis's daughter was his salvation. She might have made somewhat more bearable his realization that there was likely no saving him. Personally, I found the last scene, where he is happy for his daughter about falling in love and getting married, one of the most brutally ironic in the film. He's able to muster sincere happiness for her out of his general reluctance, but no similar favor would ever, ever have been granted him: he expected (very understandably) to be shunned, attacked, or even killed--certainly not congratulated--for feeling the same way about someone, and now (at the point this scene comes) it's too late.

It should be noted, too, that what some people perceive as conventional is hardly that to others. In my opinion, Brokeback is much less conventional than Layer Cake, which would've seemed more unconventional if it had been made in the era where Brokeback's conventions were more common. Dominant conventions shift through the eras, obviously, and narrative conventions predate film by centuries. We could say everything has been done before and there's nothing new under the sun, so I tend to go for the Sarris ethos as a criteria much sooner than I try to claim something's unconventional or conventional or--the hardest claim to support--"original."
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Split Infinitive

Quote from: godardian on May 11, 2006, 06:53:03 PM
Andrew Sarris, a good candidate for foremost or at least top-notch critic, said what Roger Ebert apparently paraphrased, but in a more eloquent and quotable (not to mention grammatical) way: "It's not 'what happens,' it's how it happens."

I didn't exactly find that Ennis's daughter was his salvation. She might have made somewhat more bearable his realization that there was likely no saving him. Personally, I found the last scene, where he is happy for his daughter about falling in love and getting married, one of the most brutally ironic in the film. He's able to muster sincere happiness for her out of his general reluctance, but no similar favor would ever, ever have been granted him: he expected (very understandably) to be shunned, attacked, or even killed--certainly not congratulated--for feeling the same way about someone, and now (at the point this scene comes) it's too late.

It should be noted, too, that what some people perceive as conventional is hardly that to others. In my opinion, Brokeback is much less conventional than Layer Cake, which would've seemed more unconventional if it had been made in the era where Brokeback's conventions were more common. Dominant conventions shift through the eras, obviously, and narrative conventions predate film by centuries. We could say everything has been done before and there's nothing new under the sun, so I tend to go for the Sarris ethos as a criteria much sooner than I try to claim something's unconventional or conventional or--the hardest claim to support--"original."
I've never read Saaris. :(  Long-live the paraphrase chain!  And I agree that Ennis's daughter is not, strictly speaking, his salvation.  But as you said, when she announces her engagement, she gives him the opportunity and enough motivation to begin prioritizing what's really important and living his live for himself.  I guess I also understand where you're coming from with the "conventions change" perspective, but I disagree.  I think that basic storytelling has been essentially the same for centuries, and there are certain hallmarks that remain unchanged in the most lauded examples.  The Oscars, for example -- actually, most major awards -- tend to favor the stories with a traditional structure, such as Brokeback Mountain.  I understand that you're not saying that conventions change, but rather that people's perceptions of them might, but that's what I disagree with.  I think a lot of entirely conventional movies -- such as Shawshank Redemption, another decades-long film about male bonding -- connect with the mass audience because they rely on the "ye olde" methods of storytelling.  To me, I guess "conventional" often entails a conscious effort to avoid "reinventing the wheel."  A movie like Layer Cake sure relies on current, hip conventions of cinema, but it almost tries to hard in its effort to be different.  Brokeback Mountain, on the other hand, is what it is -- a great movie, pure and simple.  The screenwriters recognized that and built it into their writing.
Please don't correct me. It makes me sick.

pete

I'm impressed by your ability to predict everything in the film within the first minute.  however, I still don't agree that it's of a traditional structure just because one guy knows what will happen to everyone at the start of the film.  I think it's rare to see a film that works the audience up all this time just to see one expression from one actor for a few seconds at the very end, and I honetly believe that's what Brokeback's set out to do.  All of the film is just a decoy, and I guess the decoy might look and sound traditional.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Split Infinitive

Quote from: pete on May 14, 2006, 12:18:04 PM
I'm impressed by your ability to predict everything in the film within the first minute.
Most people are.  I can't help being impressive. I suspect that it's part of this "air of greatness" people are always saying hangs about me.  :yabbse-grin: 

Quotehowever, I still don't agree that it's of a traditional structure just because one guy knows what will happen to everyone at the start of the film.  I think it's rare to see a film that works the audience up all this time just to see one expression from one actor for a few seconds at the very end, and I honetly believe that's what Brokeback's set out to do.  All of the film is just a decoy, and I guess the decoy might look and sound traditional.
Likewise, I completely disagree that the whole movie is just a decoy to divert the audience until a one-second shot at the end of the film.  That's just ridiculous.  The film might as well not exist as exist for a singular moment.  I could agree with you that the movie builds up to that, but the other elements of the film are important in their own way, not just as servants to this brief moment of which you speak.  A decoy would not feed into that moment, but rather undercut it.  If it was a decoy, that moment would take the audience completely by surprise, which is not the case.  Look at each of the elements put in place throughout the film's running time: the star-crossed romance at the outset, the introduction of the "significant others," the potentially optimistic prospect of starting over, the deterioration of these satellite lives once the original passion resumes, the charting of the true romance from idyllic scenes to conflagration, the inevitable death of the most flamboyant character, the gradual reconciliation of the primary character to what he is.  This doesn't sound traditional?  If they were just decoys, then the ending would have no payoff whatsoever.
Please don't correct me. It makes me sick.