Monday, February 25, 2019

2019 OSCARS: Vice (2018) - Unusual V.O. Narrator; A Strong Female Role

[Quick Summary: The life and rise of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, particularly after 9/11/01.]

TWO THINGS THAT THIS SCRIPT DOES WELL:

1) USE OF AN UNSEEN NARRATOR. I don't think that I've seen a script before in which the the identity of a narrator is unknown until Act 3.

2) STRONG FEMALE ROLE. I think I remember hearing that Christian Bale (who plays Dick Cheney) said that the secret to Dick is Lynne. He's right.

I think that she is a very strong female role, in part because:
a) She is aware of the limitations for women of her era, but
b) It does not prevent her from standing on her own ground.

In the following scene, we see:
- A glimpse of Lynne's background
- Lynne laying her cards out and calling for a decision from Dick
- The chemistry between  Lynne and Dick (bringing out the best in each other)

ex. "INT. LYNNE'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - SAME TIME

DICK, WITH A BLACK EYE AND STAINS ON HIS SHIRT SITS ON THE COUCH.

LYNNE, 21, pretty and sharp, stands over him with a fury in her eyes.

LYNNE: Two times! Two times I had to drag you out of that jail like a filthy hobo!!

DICK: I'm sorry, Lynne...

LYNNE: What? What did you just say?

DICK: I'm sorry, Lynney.

LYNNE:You're sorry? Don't call me "Lynney!" One time is "I'm sorry." Two times makes me think I've picked the wrong man! They kicked your ass out of Yale for drinking and fighting! Now are you just a lush who's going to hang power lines for the state? Are we going to live in a trailer and have ten children!? Is that the plan?!

Dick looks like he might be sick.

DICK: Can we please...discuss this later?

LYNNE: No. We discuss it right now while you smell of piss and cheap booze!

EDNA, Lynne's Mom, starts to walk in.

EDNA: Does Dick want some coffee?

LYNNE: Mother get out! Does Dick want some coffee? Jesus Christ! (back to Dick) Here's my plan. Eight you stand up and put your back straight and have the courage to become someone or I am gone! There are a dozen men and a few Professors at school who would date me!

DICK: I love you, Lynne. I've loved you since the day I first saw you.

LYNNE: Then prove it! I can't go to a big Ivy League school! I can't run a company or be Mayor! That's just the way the world is for a girl! I need you! And right now you're a big fat piss soaked zero! (beat while she reloads) I've seen my Mother waiting up all night for my Father to come home. And I've seen him drunk in this house raising his voice and way worse, and I'm not dancing that dance anymore...I'm not!

QUICK FLASH BACK to Lynne's FATHER yelling at her MOTHER in the kitchen. Her dad is scary and has been drinking.

LYNNE (CONT'D): Can you change? Or am I wasting my goddamn time?

Beat as Dick looks up. There is a GROWLING DETERMINATION IN HIS EYES.

DICK: I won't ever disappoint you again Lynne.

FADE TO BLACK"

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked this female role because she offers him a decision, but does not shy away from laying out what she needs. Nothing namby-pamby.

Vice (2018) 
Written & directed by Adam McKay

Monday, February 18, 2019

2019 OSCARS: Roma (2018) - Point of View; Simplicity & Foreshadowing

[Quick Summary: The lives of both a maid and the family she serves crumble simultaneously in 1970s Mexico.]

TWO THINGS THIS SCRIPT DOES WELL:  (especially when writing about memories)

1) Point of view.  I liked that the writer chose a fresh point of view (housemaid) to be the protagonist rather than something more typical (himself as the child).

2) Simplicity & Foreshadowing.  I also liked that these memories were simple on the first read.  Later, we'll see the foreshadowing layered in between.

In the scene below:
- Cleo is the protagonist and a long time, trusted maid.  She is from a poor, uneducated, minority background.
- Pepe is 5 years old.
- This simple scene seems to be about play. Later, we will look back and see that it is about her feelings toward a death to come.

ex. "EXT. - ROOF - TEPEJI 21 - AFTERNOON

....A spray of invisible bullets shoots through him and Pepe falls dead, his arms spread open, like Paco said. And he stays there, lying down motionless on the ground.

Cleo dries her hands and walks over to him. She stops and watches him -

CLEO: What happened to you?

Without opening his eyes, Pepe answers from the ground.

PEPE: I'm dead.
CLEO: Well, let's go down then.
PEPE: I can't. I'm dead.
CLEO: Then come back to life, we have to go down!
PEPE: If you die, you can't live again.
CLEO: Now what am I going to do without my Pepe!?

Cleo sits on the ground next to Pepe, who remains motionless.

CLEO (CONT'D): I can't live without my Pepe!

Cleo lies down next to Pepe, arms also extended, and closes her eyes -

CLEO (CONT'D): I'm also dead.

And so she remains still, Pepe next to her. A DC 8 flies overhead.

Pepe opens an eye to see Cleo. She's not moving and seems not to be breathing at all. Pepe reaches his hand and takes Cleo's.

PEPE: Cleo...?

But Cleo's not moving. Pepe sits up -

PEPE (CONT'D): Cleo...?
CLEO: I'm dead.
PEPE: No! C'mon, get up!
CLEO: Didn't you say that was impossible?
PEPE: Cleo, stop it!

But Cleo doesn't answer.

PEPE (CONT'D): Cleo!

She remains still.

PEPE (CONT'D): Cleeoo!

Pepe's starting to get scared -

PEPE (CONT'D): Cleeeeeeeeoooooooo!

Cleo opens her eyes and smiles at him.

CLEO: I'm playing your game. Let's see...shall we play a little longer?

Pepe lies down next to her, arms outstretched.

CLEO (CONT'D): Close your eyes.

They both close their eyes.

CLEO (CONT'D): I like being dead.

Pepe holds her hand.

The two of them lie dead on the roof - "

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This simple scene was very well crafted.  I did not see the layer of foreshadowing until much later.

Roma (2018)(dated 9/23/16)
Written and directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Monday, February 11, 2019

2019 OSCARS: Green Book (2018) - Hope; When Humor Comes Out of Character

[Quick Summary: In 1962, racist New Yorker Tony Lip becomes a bouncer for black concert pianist Dr. Don Shirley's tour of the South.]

TWO THINGS THIS SCRIPT DOES WELL:

1) Hope. I really enjoyed the hopeful tone of the script, especially in the ending.

2) Humor Out of Character. Director/co-writer Peter Farrelly said that the script is not terribly funny on the page.* He did not set out to write funny scenes.  

Instead, the humor comes out of character.

What is "humor out of character"? I think it is more about behavior than jokes.

For example, a character's misunderstandings, contradictory actions, back tracking, etc. are funny because he/she don't see them, but the audience does. **

I like this scene below as an example of misunderstanding:

ex. "INT. DINER - DAY

....Lip goes back to his plate.

LIP (CONT'D): By the way, when you hired me, my wife went out bought one of your records -- 'one about the orphans.

DR. SHIRLEY: Orphans?

LIP: Yeah. Cover had a bunch of kids sitting around a campfire?

Shirley has to think a moment.

DR. SHIRLEY: Orpheus.

LIP: What?

DR. SHIRLEY: Orpheus in the Underworld. It's based on a French Opera. And those kids on the cover? They were demons in hell.

LIP: No shit? Must of been naughty kids."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I think humor coming from character is harder to write, but more universal. It seems to rely less on understanding language than behavior.

Green Book (2018) 
by Nick Vallelonga & Brian Currie & Peter Farrelly

* Interestingly, he only started to see that it was really funny when the actors elevated it.

**Farrelly cites The Andy Griffith Show as a model of humor out of character. It is not a show built on jokes.

Monday, February 4, 2019

2018 OSCARS: First Reformed (2018) - Showing Grave Illness in Two Lines

[Quick Summary: An ill minister of a small congregation grapples with more despair after a parishioner commits suicide in upstate New York.]

This is the 4th Paul Schrader script that I've read so far (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Obsession), but perhaps my least favorite.*

Enough about me.  On to the good stuff...

WHAT THIS SCRIPT DOES WELL:

1)  It is stripped down.  This shows what can be done for $3M today (and investors can get their money back!)

2) It shows (not tells) grave illness. In the scene below, we see Toller in a normal, routine biological act... except for one thing. 

Notice the power of only two sentences (especially the last two words):

ex. "INT. PARSONAGE BATHROOM - NIGHT

Propping one hand against the wall, Toller urinates into the toilet. His urine runs dark brown."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: How does the writer gets the reader to make the conclusion that Toller is ill? Use a universally understood behavior + unexpected result.  

First Reformed (2018)
Written and directed by Paul Schrader

*For anyone who cares: I could stomach that this is a serious film about a serious circumstance, but it took me until p. 17 to get interested.
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