OVP: Best Film Editing (2011)
The Nominees Were...
Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Kevin Tant, The Descendants
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo
Christopher Tellefsen, Moneyball
My Thoughts: Film Editing is the "Invisible Art" of film-making-it's difficult for a layman to decipher whether an editor was given a near perfect scene, or whether he or she had to scrub through hours of film to make any sort of sense in a wayward script. That said, you can tell when a film is cut well, as it runs smoothly, leaves few gaps, and has a clear direction and purpose.
A film like Moneyball clearly has a purpose, and a strong sense of self. Christopher Tellefsen certainly knows the sort of soft, worn movie that Bennett Miller is trying to bring to life. The alternating stories of both a father/daughter and a struggling baseball franchise are told with a ready balance, so that you are not left as if either story line has been short-shifted. I particularly enjoyed the flashback scenes, which flow in and out of the film without seeming out-of-place or as if they are being put in in a forced, mandatory way.
The opposite could be said for Pitt's buddy George Clooney's film. Granted, I liked Moneyball better than I did than The Descendants, a preference which probably starts in the editing room. The movie feels so disjointed-while months later I recall Moneyball as one long stream of film consciousness, I remember The Descendants as not having enough time for any of its plotlines-is it a movie about a man coming to terms with his listless life, his dying wife, his estranged (and yet oddly, not estranged) daughters (the film never decides completely on what Woodley and Clooney's relationship is), or about whether Clooney will cave to his family to destroy the paradise that his family has owned for years. It seems as if the editing room can't make up its mind either, and we are left with "don't forget about this plot, we're going to get back to it later" reminders throughout the film. Further proving this point is that the only character with a really strong and continuous character arch is Judy Greer's, who is the fourth or fifth billed star.
The Artist knows where it wants to go, and clearly Bion and Hazanavicius have seen every film Chaplin and Keaton put out in the late 1920's, and are fans. That's evident in the way that they jump and skip through scene-after-scene. The editing works, in the sense that it truly pays homage to its Silent Era brethren, but the problem is that the Silent Era largely had terrible editing. Yes, I get that they're doing it on purpose, but just because they're doing it on purpose doesn't mean that that's the right decision. A film like, say, Sunrise, is able to have that fluidity necessary to keep the audience from head-scratching between scenes, while still clearly a "Silent Era" film. The suicide scene is by far the most finely-edited sequence in the movie, but to get there we have to make giant leaps of faith with Berenice Bejo's character, in particular, and the coldness that some people felt while watching the film may have been averted if they'd had some longer, character-driven scenes.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo continues to look like such a missed opportunity in hindsight-no one does serial killers like Fincher, and Wall/Baxter just a year earlier had turned in a wicked marvel of editing in The Social Network. It's obvious that the talented Wall/Baxter aren't going to botch the film entirely-the continued use of harsh wintry vistas and the consistent showing of the distance between the family member's respective houses drives home the film's harshness far better than any of the performance's are doing. Yet, it's those performances that are the film's undoing-Rooney Mara is far too smug and sullen, Craig too naive and generic, and editing more interplay between the two characters would have gotten us a little behind the why of those two characters and what draws them to each other. Yes, that may be what the book is going for, and yes, Mara's character in particular is supposed to be enigmatic, but her actions being unknown hurting the film is not a complaint you could levy at, say, Anton Chigurh, Ledger's the Joker, or even Janet McTeer's Hubert, all three characters left with missing pieces. This lack of direction lies more with Mara and her director, but that doesn't mean that snappier editing wouldn't have helped.
Hugo is one of those cases where seeing the film in theaters almost certainly would have helped its chances, rather than through a screener. The film is solid in its progressive scenes, particularly in the Papa Georges plotline. I have to say that I adored the beautiful flashback scene where they are introduced to some of the many films of Melies and we get an early tutorial in the birth of cinema. The robot/dead father plotline takes a bit of a backseat to the rest of the movie, and considering its prominent placement, that's a combination of the screenwriter and editor's respective faults.
That said, what makes Schoonmaker's work far more impressive on the big screen is the use of 3-D. No film since Avatar has so finely incorporated this advent into its movies, and that's due to Schoonmaker actually editing in 3-D. Every scene doesn't overwhelm or hurt the eyes, but instead glides them through the streets of Paris with a sense of whimsy and adventure. I normally hate 3-D, but it's clear that it's a tool that when used properly, can be most advantageous to getting your visual story across.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Eddie's split their nominations between comedy and drama, so all five films are cited (with The Artist and The Descendants winning), but they also found room for War Horse, My Week with Marilyn, Midnight in Paris, Young Adult, and Bridesmaids. BAFTA was a huge fan of the documentary Senna, giving it its trophy, and honoring the wild ride in Drive and the character interplay of Tinker Tailor (they kept The Artist and Hugo in the mix).
Films I Would Have Nominated: The Tree of Life, Drive, and Weekend, three of my favorite films of 2011, all deserve mention for this category. The Tree of Life primarily due to the way it keeps a story within a Malick film (always a challenge), Drive for the way those car races keep you glued to the screen, and Weekend for the way it slowly unfolds two characters lives in a seemingly real-time pace. Also worth noting is the peyote-like haze that the editing team behind Martha Marcy Mae Marlene tests your patience and onscreen trust. Looking at a film like Compliance for comparison (where they give away the ending too soon), you see that they clearly have a singular vision of the film, and that that vision is realized on-screen.
Oscar's Choice: In one of last year's biggest upsets, Baxter/Wall made it two in a row with Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, triumphing over frontrunners like The Artist and Hugo.
My Choice: As may be evident by the four films I listed should have been nominated, I'm not a huge fan of this lineup. For me, it's really a wrestling match between Hugo and Moneyball. On DVD, I'd give the advantage to Moneyball, the more impressive of the two without any accoutrements. That said, I didn't see them on DVD-I saw them in theaters, and Schoonmaker's excellent use of 3-D gets her my trophy. Advantage Hugo, followed by Moneyball, The Artist, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and The Descendants, in order.
And now, of course, I welcome you to discuss in the comments-of the five films, what movie deserved the trophy? What films should have been nominated? And of all films in 2011, which had truly the best Film Editing?
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