Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Oscar 2009 : The Stories

There are two Oscar categories for the writers of the stories we see in film. One for original material and one for stories adapted from other material. In the category of original screenplay, I was blown away by WALL-E. Not a word of dialogue for almost 45 minutes. This is a creative story of love , evolution and environment. For adapted screenplay, the script that stood out to me was for the film Doubt. Written by John Patrick Shanley, from his Pulitzer Prize winning play, it is a strong piece that looks at conscience and the actions we take. Another script that is as powerful in what it doesn't say, as in what it does. Slumdog Millionaire could also win this award. The story is taken from the novel, Q and A. We learn of life, love and survival on the streets of Mumbai through the vehicle of a game show. Either of these could win, though the words from Doubt really made me think.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's pretty challenging to choose a favorite in both screenplay categories this year. For Original, I'd say that "Wall-E" is the most deserving because of how inventive and moving it is. I'm glad to see "Frozen River" and "In Bruges" get nods too, especially the latter; it was much better than I expected.

"Doubt" is my top pick for Adapted. I just love how the dialogue and ambiguous themes were brought to life in such a knockout manner. "Slumdog" could very well win it, and "Frost/Nixon" stands a good chance. As much as I enjoyed "Benjamin Button", it shouldn't be taking home a golden man because of its structural similarities to The Gump.

Linda said...

V Knowledge~I think all of the screenplay nominees are award-worthy this year. The original screenplays were all especially good. Stay tuned....