Oscar Postmortem Pt. 1: Overview

Well, the 85th Annual Academy Awards came and went, putting a cap on what has been one of the most unusual awards seasons in recent memory. To no one's surprise, Ben Affleck's Argo was crowned the Best Picture of 2012, also taking expected prizes for Chris Terrio's screenplay and William Goldenberg's editing.

One Category at a Time: Adapted Screenplay

The contest for Best Adapted Screenplay is stuffed with the four leading Best Picture contenders, which makes it rather tricky to anticipate this year. We have a difficult literary adaptation from a popular potential sweeper, a quirky screwball comedy that a lot of pundits seem to be underestimating, a verbose historical drama that glows with eloquent language, and a zingy crowd-pleaser that appears first in line to win Best Picture. Joining them is a scrappy indie whose best shot at winning anything may come in this category (not that it's a great shot).

My Award nominations: Adapted Screenplay

To be honest, there weren't as many formidable contenders for these spots as in other categories. The five you see here went pretty much unchallenged in my opinion, although The Avengers came awfully close, so here's a quick shout out to Joss Whedon and Zak Penn. Now, my actual nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay:

Review - Argo

As though his first two features Gone, Baby, Gone and The Town weren't proof enough, Argo provides further evidence of Ben Affleck's continued maturation as a skillful, no-nonsense director. Falling into the unimpeachable category of “a good story, well told”, Argo is a near perfect Hollywood dramatization of a true story, deftly balancing tight thrills, human drama, and comic relief within a hugely entertaining and satisfying picture.

Starting off with a very brief history of Iran's political turmoil in the mid-to-late 70s, Affleck proceeds to drop us into a riveting opening sequence of a civilian mob storming the American embassy, brilliantly splicing together archived news footage with meticulously recreated shots (this scene alone is enough to justify William Goldenberg walking away with next year's Oscar for Best Film Editing). Intent on taking hostages so that the U.S. will relinquish the detested Shah who is being harboured stateside, the revolutionaries capture all but six embassy employees, who slip out the back and seek shelter at the house of the Canadian ambassador (Victor Garber). To prevent the unaccounted-for six from being hunted down and executed as spies, the CIA rushes to enact and escape plan. Dissatisfied with his colleagues' suggestions, special agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with an unlikely strategy to smuggle out the fugitives; as a Canadian film crew on a location scout for a sci-fi movie.