‘CODA’ Script Analysis: When the Familiar Meets the Familial

This past Sunday, CODA set the film world ablaze with its historic Best Picture victory at the 94th Academy Awards, sweeping each of its three nominations. It was an impressive task for such a small film, labelled by some as just a feel-good Sundance movie and nothing more. I’ve been a champion of the film from the moment I laid eyes on it, as I believe it’s one of the best movies of the year and wholly deserving of its victories. Today I’m going to examine the screenplay and explain why I think this movie is truly special and will age better than many believe as a Best Picture winner.

‘Dark’ Netflix Series Analysis: Crafting Linear Circularity

The sci-fi drama television series Dark (2017-2020) was groundbreaking for many reasons. Not only was it Netflix’s first German-language original TV series, it also had unparalleled ambition and scope for such a contained story. The plot is dizzying and endlessly-complex, while the character work is sublime, as the world is populated by living, breathing people with their own nuanced motives, strengths and weaknesses. It’s a masterclass in worldbuilding and character design, and today I’m going to attempt to peel back the layers and explain what makes this show such a resounding success.

**Major spoilers ahead!!**

‘Minari’ & ‘Sound of Metal’ Script Analysis: Spirituality in a Secular World

Normally this is the time of year when I start reading through scripts of the previous year’s best films and dissecting them for themes and storytelling lessons we can learn from them. However, I noticed an interesting throughline in several big contenders last year, one that we haven’t seen explored much in Hollywood in recent years: religion. It’s a thorny topic in today’s day and age, but no matter what you believe in, spirituality is a fascinating aspect of life that deserves deeper exploration! We’ve seen a few (older) filmmakers tackle the concept in recent years: Martin Scorsese’s Silence and Paul Schrader’s First Reformed to name a couple. But last year gave us two young up-and-coming directors with something to say about faith through their films that did not come across as preachy or overzealous. Today I want to look at the screenplays for Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal to see what they have in common in regards to spirituality.

How ‘Nomadland’ Mourns America but Celebrates the American Spirit

This weekend marks the streaming release of Chloe Zhao’s masterpiece Nomadland, a poignant examination of the American nomadic lifestyle. It takes on the style of a documentary at times, allowing its real subjects to tell their stories in a free-flowing, almost anti-narrative fashion. However, there is a lot of intention behind the story structure and Zhao uses these characters and their experiences to explore themes of grief and loss. While each character has something specific they’ve lost in life, as a collective whole they are grieving the loss of a lifestyle that is no longer available to them – an America that no longer exists. And yet, the film can also be seen as a celebration of life and the rugged American way of life long forgotten and brought back to life by these modern-day nomads. Today, to celebrate this wonderful film being released to the general public, I will be exploring the ways in which this film speaks volumes about 21st Century America without needing a lot of words.

‘Palm Springs’ Script Analysis: A Fresh Spin on a Tired Genre

The time-loop genre has been seemingly done to death already, and no one would’ve argued with you if you declared it a dead genre at the start of 2020. But Max Barbakow and Andy Siara proved us wrong with Palm Springs, which on the surface looks like your run-of-the-mill time loop comedy despite being anything but. The genius of the script comes in the way it infuses the time loop mechanic into a romantic comedy formula – funny enough, another genre that has been done to death many times by now. But what results is something greater than the sum of its parts, and today we’re diving deeper into the screenplay to see what makes this clever little sci-fi rom-com tick!

“Monos”: The Best Film You Didn’t See Last Year

Like many people, my favorite film of 2019 was Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning Parasite, but it very nearly got bumped off the top spot by another foreign film. It wasn’t nominated for the International Feature Oscar (it wasn’t even shortlisted!), and it was pretty much passed over by the entire cinephile community during the end-of-year retrospective. Alejandro Landes’ Monos (2019) out of Colombia is a stunning piece of work: a feast for the eyes and ears unlike few films we’ve seen in the past decade. But more than just a sensory cinematic experience, it is a fascinating look at the detrimental effects of war on youth and how the culture of conformity impacts a generation that prefers not to define itself by rigid guidelines.

“Jojo Rabbit” Script Analysis: Pride, Peer Pressure and Persecution

Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit (2019) was one of the more controversial and polarizing films in the Oscar race this season, drawing passionate acclaim and vehement opposition in almost equal measure. It managed to take home the Best Adapted Screenplay award, but still there are those out there who believe the film is irresponsible in its depiction of Nazis. Is it dangerous to defang Nazis and show them to be bumbling oafs? Or does it serve the needs of this particular story and further the themes of radicalization and intolerance? Let’s dive deeper into the screenplay and figure it out for ourselves!

“Parasite” Script Analysis: The Follies of Counter-Capitalism

Bong Joon-ho’s master work of a film Parasite (2019) took the Academy Awards by storm this year, nabbing four Oscars including Best Picture. And while I am absolutely thrilled that the Academy rewarded the best film of the year, I feel that we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of all the film is trying to say. This movie is far more than meets the eye: it is a multi-layered look at modern society and the rich vs. poor dynamic that does not trivialize or generalize its subject matter. It challenges the viewer to look at the situation from multiple perspectives and consider the at-times-conflicting viewpoints of each character. Today I will be digging deeper into the film’s Oscar-winning screenplay to try and unravel the carefully-constructed web Bong spins for our viewing pleasure. **SPOILERS AHEAD!**

“Joker” Script Analysis: Put On A Happy Face

Todd Phillips’ Joker is by far the most polarizing film of awards season, with some (the public) calling it a masterpiece and others (the Film Twitter bubble) calling it vapid trash. The majority of criticism has been leveled against the film’s screenplay, with many pointing to the on-the-nose dialogue and vague social messaging as signs of weakness. This, unfortunately, is the result of non-screenwriters not realizing what makes a strong script. It isn’t all about dialogue and thematic content: it’s about structure, character development, and staying a step ahead of the audience, all of which Phillips does exceptionally well. Today I’m going to dive deeper into the film’s screenplay and defend the film’s awards season success.

Foreign Film Fridays: “Spirited Away” (Japan, 2001)

Welcome back to Foreign Film Fridays, where I look back at some of the best and most influential foreign films released in the recent past! Today we’ve got something of a timely entry, as last weekend’s Toy Story 4 was surprisingly upset in the Chinese box office by an old Japanese classic making its debut in the country: 2001’s Spirited Away. The film heralded the emergence of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli as international powerhouses in the animation industry, and is considered one of the most influential foreign AND animated films of all time, inspiring many (including last week’s foreign filmmaker!). What makes this simple child’s tale such a timeless classic?