If I Picked the Winners: Best Original Screenplay 2009

     As a sort of companion piece to last week's article, I thought this week I would look at the other side of the writing awards in 2009: Best Original Screenplay. As I've stated before, the Best Original Screenplay category is usually one that is open to cinema's more quirky films, including film's whose sole nomination comes from the category, while the Best Adapted Screenplay category is usually home to the more prestigious multi-nominated films. That's not to say this is always the case, as Best Original Screenplay usually has a few big players (proved by "The Hurt Locker"'s victory in 2009), but it is also the only category where you see movies such as 2004's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" receive the official seal of approval from the Academy. The category then is commonly exciting (at least in terms of who gets nominated, not so much in who wins, which like most categories, is well-known going into the awards ceremony), because it is one of those rare categories that truly feels open. In this category, voters look beyond the obvious usual suspects and consider possibilities that would quickly be shot down in other categories. The result then is a category that quite often serves as a cinematic scouting report, highlighting up and coming writers and directors, such as in 2001, when both Christopher Nolan and Wes Anderson were nominated for the screenplays "Memento" and "The Royal Tenenbaums" respectively.

     As audience members, an original screenplay is exciting because we have no idea what to expect. Given trailers and genre conventions, going into the movie we may have some idea of what we're about to see (especially if the film relies so heavily on traditions and cliches to the point it is "original" in name only), but what is exciting about films with original screenplays is their high standard deviation (or high level of variation for those not up in their statistics) in terms of quality. You could get a "Sucker Punch" (which if you missed my low opinion of the film, you can catch up with by clicking here), or you could get an "Another Year" (which if you missed my high opinion of the film, you can catch up with by clicking here). It's the cinematic equivalent Russian Roulette.

     In my opinion, which I made clear last week, 2009 was a relatively good year for cinema, and this includes original screenplays. In fact, with one lone exception that I will be covering in a moment, the batch of nominees the Academy came up with is excellent. These were films that really pushed the genres they operated in to new directions, truly deserving of every sense of the word "original". The Academy's nominees were actually so good, that this week's list of ideal alternatives consists of one movie, but one that was definitely an unfortunate absence. The missing piece of the puzzle was Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon", a relentlessly gothic German film dissecting the strict, repressed roots of the generation that would become the Nazi monsters of the 20th Century. Had the film been nominated, it would have been the third nominated film in the category to make my Top 100 list (the only three films from 2009 to make my list), but given the Academy's xenophobia, the fact "The White Ribbon" missed the cut comes as no surprise. Enough day dreaming though, let's get down to business.

News: Tarantino's Next Film Gets a Name and Plot

     Some exciting news today from my all-time favorite director: Quentin Tarantino. A few weeks back, we learned that he was writing his next movie and that it would be a Spaghetti Western, but that was about all we knew. Well  today, we now have a name: "Django Unchained". The name is a reference to a Spaghetti Western by Sergio Corbucci that is simply titled, "Django". The Corbucci film tells the story of a gunslinger who enters a town that is being torn apart by two warring factions, the KKK and Mexican bandits. Just like Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" was not a direct remake of Enzo Castellari's "The Inglorious Bastards", "Django Unchained" will have a separate plot from "Django". Apparently, "Django Unchained" will tell the story of a freed slave in pre-Civil War south, Django (who is not cast yet according to our knowledge) , who is mentored by a German bounty hunter (to be played by "Inglourious Basterds" Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz). The two men work some jobs together for awhile, but eventually Django's mind wonders back home, where he wife is still being held in perpetual forced labor on a plantation by her evil owner. Django and the bounty hunter decide to try and free his wife and take revenge on the plantation owner. The story sounds absolutely amazing, and with Tarantino behind camera, shot in a Spaghetti Western style, this is sure to be another all-time great. Unfortunately, there is no release date yet or even a planned start date for shooting, so we may have to wait a while longer. In the meantime though, if you would like to read more about this story, click here.