What Are The Best WRITTEN Films?
Monday’s are for movies. And sometimes TV. Quality over quantity this year, so I ask, what are the best WRITTEN movies you know?
I am having a year where I am slowing down with movies. I have written about this already. A couple of times. I’ve got a busy time ahead. I did not re-subscribe to the Wellington Film Society — and I really struggled with that decision. It seemed like one night a week was a great space, dedicate a night a week to going to see a great film — but even that feels too much to commit to. I am trying my best to not watch films for the sake of it, and if I am going to have some time to just chill and want a backdrop I will watch a concert or something where I can relax into it. And it’s not ‘important’ — with all due respect to the artists.
Yesterday I watched Bill Evans in concert — a DVD. And it was sublime. Of course.
But I want to watch quality films from time to time, even in a busy year. And I feel like taking the time to sit with a film is going to be better than starting a series, which will either take up too much of my time to binge, or I’ll forget about and won’t return to.
Last week I went and saw Taxi Driver on the big screen — it’s the second time I’ve seen it at the movies, and I must have watched it close to a dozen times at home, maybe more, I’m not entirely sure. And I’ve read the script. And read about it, and, well, just generally I love that film. I adore its soundtrack:
What A Good Score! – #10: Taxi Driver by Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann’s score to Taxi Driver is one of the most important soundtracks in my life and in my collection – or at least in my ‘collecting’. I foolishly traded the vinyl picture disc I had of this amazing, evocative score. I will get a new vinyl copy one day. I still have it on CD. I still listen to it a lot on Spotify and YouTube and wherever els…
And if you’re reading this, you’ll already know that soundtracks are very important to me. I love everything about Taxi Driver actually, amazing cast, stacked, and all great, and beautifully shot and edited and directed — one of Marty’s absolute best, maybe one of the best films of the 70s, it’s certainly in my list for films of that year:
Favourite Films of 1976
It’s a regular thing here. Looking at films from a particular year. I decided, a while back, I’d start with the golden run of the 1970s, and, when I remember, I’d work through a year.You’ll remember perhaps I’ve done this already, most recently with 1975
But I was struck, this most recent time watching it — and I have thought this before — that maybe the greatest thing about it, the thing that makes it, that is supported by and allows all of those other things (the music to shine, the performances to bounce off one another, the virtuoso touches of Scorsese and De Niro, etc) is the script. Paul Schrader needing a hit. Needing something to keep him living. Writing out of his depression and into the history books, putting his anger on the page, and allowing it to dance across the stage.
All of that was reason enough to see it again — and on the mighty Embassy screen. And that script, the writing of it, was what I focused on most — which made it feel like ‘work’, in only the very best way; a field trip you see.
I was also taken with The Wizard (Peter Boyle). I am very taken with side characters and what they can do, what they offer, where they take things:
Funnily enough, later in the week we sat down as a family to find time to watch a film together, and it’s often a chore to find something we all haven’t seen already and want to see — we settled on Prisoners, the 2013 offering by Denis Villeneuve, known these days for a dizzying run that arguably started with Sicario and then Arrival, nearly back to back, and then showed he can handle already adapted works next, wrestling into shape a Blade Runner sequel (2049) and the two new Dune adaptations.
I don’t know why I have not seen Prisoners before — my Letterboxd account tells me I’m closing in on 10,000 films, and there are more I’ll never remember of course, but I cannot get to everything. And so when it comes to Prisoners, I hadn’t. I’m sure glad I’ve seen it now. And it might even play to similar strengths as Taxi Driver without being anything like it at all. Let’s see: Ot has a stacked cast, all knocking it out of the park, a strong director making correct choices, a beautiful score, and yet I was drawn — again — to the writing. This might be the space I’m in this year (and that would be fair) but still it felt like I was watching a novel; watching a great short story. The writing of Prisoners was exquisite. And yes, it required the actors to act the shit out of it, and the director to not fuck it up in any way, and the director and editor to know the correct pacing, and yes, yes, we all know that film is always a team effort.
But my week of seeing an old classic I’ve seen before, and a new classic I’d missed showed me that the writing can be the secret strength of a really great film.
It can be there in comedy too. Rewatched Thelma this weekend too — and, yeah, this is me slowing right down with movies, yes! — and as majestic and important as June Squibb is in this film, and as wonderful as Parker Posey is in a very lowkey, supporting role, and as great as everything about this film is, it really is the writing that makes it; the tone, the jokes, the commitment to the way the story unfolds. Again, yes, we need a good director, and actors, and editing and camera work, but that’s a given. Sometimes the thing that still stands out most is the script. You can fix nearly everything in post. You can’t fix the script in post! The script needs to be good first.
It can even happen in sequels over the originals. Example? Well, I won’t deny that Trainspotting is a great film — zeitgeist-y back when released. Strong performances, star-making turns, and great soundtrack and song placement and all of that. A novel adapted well too, absolutely. But I think T2: Trainspotting (from 2017) is the better-written movie. I think it had the harder job. I don’t think it’s a more successful film, or even a better watch, but it means more to me to sit down with T2 these days. Something about that script, probably the fact that I could relate to the characters, the aging, the dynamics of changing friendships with age. But, yeah, I reckon for the job it had to do the only reason T2 was even moderately successful at all was down to the writing.
So, with that in mind, I need your suggestions for your favourite writing in films. What movies do you watch — and rewatch — for the strength of the script alone? Or at least for the strength of the script above anything else? Let me know down below — leave a comment, make a suggestion. No judgements, only lists. No Dana, Only Zuul…
Anything written by Lawrence Kasdan, Aaron Sorkin or Quentin Tarantino gets repeat viewings from me.