Cinema '62: Best Picture

And here we have it - the finale! The nominees for Best Picture of the Year are:

True Story: Adapted Screenplay, 1982

I used to have an Oscar Season Reading List, made up of books whose upcoming adaptations had some buzz surrounding them. This was during college, 2007 - 2010, and it forced me to jump ship from my usual pulps and whodunnits and explore other genres, forms, and writers. Nominated titles included Atonement, No Country for Old Men, Oil! (There Will Be Blood), "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" (Away from Her), "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Push (Precious), Up in the Air, The Accidental Billionaires (The Social Network), True Grit, Winter's Bone and The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Hugo). Unnominated titles included Public Enemies and Revolutionary Road.

Eventually I became frustrated with bringing expectations from my readings to the movies, and so I've more or less stopped that. Still, it's worth trying again, especially when it comes to a year like this one - or indeed, a year like 1982. Because you never know just where the inspiration for an awards-worthy screenplay can come from....

 

Like a novel, preferably a best-seller - after all, if people want to read a story, other people probably want to watch it. In 1982, The Verdict is one of those courtroom thrillers that would sell at any airport; Sophie's Choice is a doorstop of a novel about a post-War love story and secrets of World War II Europe. In 2017, Call Me By Your Name is a gay-themed novel about memory; Mudbound is an epic about the post-war South.

  

Truth is stranger than fiction - thus, the non-fiction book. Missing, based on The Execution of Charles Horman, relates the story of the disappearance and murder of Charles Horman in Chile, and the implication of our own American government in its subsequent coverup. And if you want to count autobiographical fiction, Das Boot, about the exploits of a German U-boat, is based on a novel written by a war correspondent who went aboard U-96 in 1941. 2017 offers two true tales of its own: The Disaster Artist, about the making of cult hit The Room, and Molly's Game, which is terrible.

They don't even have to come from books - they could be other films! Victor/Victoria is based on the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria; actually, it's the fourth version of that story, following the 1935 British film First a Girl and the 1957 German remake. Logan is inspired by the X-Men comics, yes, but it's mostly our understanding of Hugh Jackman's performance in 8 films over 17 years that informs the film.

In 1982, truth took the prize:

And what will happen in 2017? No idea, we'll talk about that next week. For now, a closer look at the nominees of 1982...

The Bicentennial Director

History was made on nomination morning. Once again, a bunch of white men were up for Best Director. But for the first time ever, a woman's touch was finally felt in the category. That was the Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller, up for her study of an asshole in fascist Italy, Seven Beauties, which she also wrote. Wertmüller came from the theatre, where she met her future muse Giancarlo Giannini; they not only collaborated on Seven Beauties, but also Swept Away, The Seduction of Mimi, and Love and Anarchy. Her entry into film was be as assistant director on Fellini's 8 1/2.

Wertmüller broke through the boys' club, though it would be another 33 years before a woman actually won the damn thing. But that's not to dismiss the actual winner of the 1976 Oscar:

I mean, have you seen Rocky? It's pretty freeking great.

Anyway, the nominees, after the jump.