[Quick Summary: In 1961, Bob Dylan comes to NYC, where he meets his heroes and significant women in his life.]
PROGRAMMING NOTE: For this year's 2025 Oscar roundup, I'm going to feature my single favorite line from each of the 10 scripts.
CON OF READING OSCAR SCRIPTS: There's a bias toward certain stories.
PRO OF READING OSCAR SCRIPTS: Learning what the industry says is the most innovative writing in the last year.
Though today's script wasn't particularly innovative in the biopic genre, I thought it captured atmosphere succinctly, which is often very difficult to do.
I could not decide between my favorite two lines, so I include them both here:
EXAMPLE 1:
- Joan and Bob have just spent the first night together.
- She asks Bob to sing one of his new songs. She joins in.*
- The line below tries to explain what the tension in the air feels like:
INT. BOB'S APARTMENT -- DAWN
...No one is brave today...
EXAMPLE 2:
- Bob has put other things above Sylvie too many times.
- One day, he shows up on a motorcycle and shouts up to her apartment.
- The line below unfolds her inner life that creates an unspoken frisson around her:
EXT. SYLVIE'S APARTMENT -- MOMENTS LATER
...She crosses to Bob and climbs on the bike knowing full well this is stupid.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: It's good to know the writer's rule ("only write what the audience can see") and when to break it (ex. sometimes a writer can only describe atmosphere by describing what a character's internal state is).
A Complete Unknown (2024)
by James Mangold and Jay Cocks
* As a side note, I loved the description of their singing: "The rusty knife of Bob's voice blunts the beauty of Joan's."
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