notes on a scandal Tagged Articles at Cinematical

As far as the Oscars are concerned, the best way to get a handle on the year's best films is to look at the Best Screenplay nominees. The writers who vote for the ten films nominated in the Original and Adapted categories are the closest things to outsiders the movie community has. They're generally smarter and lower paid than anyone else, and they tend not to work on movie sets, hobnobbing with famous directors and movie stars. And so they have a more objective outlook on what's good and what's not.

The screenplay category has historically shown more foresight and flexibility than its fellows. After all, some of the past winners include filmmakers William A. Wellman, Orson Welles, Preston Sturges, Mel Brooks, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers, none of which ever had a shot as Best Director. Other nominees include Budd Boetticher, Andre de Toth, Nicholas Ray, Jacques Tati and Jacques Demy. Certain filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Oliver Stone and Bill Condon won Screenplay Oscars long before their careers as directors took off. And even some genuinely legendary writers have heard their name called: William Saroyan, James Agee, Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, Paddy Chayefsky, Vladimir Nabokov and Arthur Miller.

One person you won't get to see win an Oscar this year, even if she does win, is Dame Judi Dench. The six-time nominee (and the only actor to make the crossover from the Pierce Brosnan Bond films to the Daniel Craig Bond films) is unable to attend this year's ceremony because she will be having a knee operation. Apparently she is fine with missing the event, though, and told reporters not to bet on her to win for her performance in Notes on a Scandal. Of course, nobody in their right minds would bet on anybody but Helen Mirren for the Best Actress trophy. Still, it is always nice to see Dench at these things.

It would also be nice to see her win in the Best Actress category at some point. Although she won a supporting Oscar in 1999, for Shakespeare in Love, she also deserves the honor of winning a lead prize. In many ways, she is like Meryl Streep -- dependable, always amazing and often nominated, but perhaps appreciated enough already as one of our 'great actresses' that the Academy feels no obligation to recognize her any further. Hopefully this isn't really the case.

For whatever reason, all the orgs and major awards shows are staying far away from Children of Men, even though the film has shown up on quite a few top ten lists (our own James Rocchi easily picked it as this year's best film). Since I have not seen Children of Men yet (I know, don't kill me, I'm going Sunday), I can't sit here and cycle through what those reasons might be, but I can tell you that the film has finally won an award.

Remember that USC Scripter award I was telling you about recently? For those that don't recall, the Scripter award is handed out each year (by the USC Libraries) to the writers involved in an outstanding film adaptation. Not only do the screenwriters who adapted the (book, short story or novella) get recognized, but also the original author. This year, five films (and their writing teams) were nominated, including Children of Men, Notes on a Scandal, The Devil Wears Prada, The Last King of Scotland and The Illusionist. As I previously noted, Little Children was strangely absent from the finalists, which probably helped Children of Men (and its five screenwriters, as well as original author P.D. James) ultimately win this year's USC Scripter award. Previous winners include Capote and Million Dollar Baby, among others.

If you're a huge Children of Men fan, then might I suggest you cherish this moment folks, as the film will most likely not win anything else this year. The official awards ceremony will be held on February 18 at USC's Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library in Los Angeles.