The 95th Academy Awards Race: Best Original Screenplay

The nominees are . . . .
• The Banshees of Inisherin by Martin McDonagh
• Everything Everywhere All At Once by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
• The Fabelmans by Tony Kushner & Steven Spielberg
• Tár by Todd Field
• Triangle of Sadness by Ruben Östlund

Herein lies the goony-bird category.  The Best Original Screenplay category is traditionally where the offbeat and the strange often find themselves winners.  Past winners have included Promising Young Woman, Get Out, her, Django Unchained, Midnight in Paris and Almost Famous.  Very often, it can be the place where a film finds its sole victory when other branches get too skittish about rewarding it.

Such is the case with Martin McDonagh and his twee little Irish breakup tale called The Banshees of Inisherin, a film that a lot of people enjoyed more than I did.  The film is a favorite of many critics, generally occupying the mid-section of their ten best lists, and it has been making the rounds of the award circuit; in the case of McDonagh’s screenplay it has picked up honors at BAFTA, The Golden Globes, and most importantly the Writer’s Guild Awards, the same folks that vote for the Oscar.  This will be the film’s only victory.

The Winner: The Banshees of Inisherin
The Dark Horse: none

About the Author: Jerry Roberts

Jerry Roberts is a film critic and operator of two websites, Armchair Cinema and Armchair Oscars.