OVP: Best Film Editing (2012)
The Nominees Were...
William Goldenberg, Argo
Tim Squyres, Life of Pi
Michael Kahn, Lincoln
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, Silver Linings Playbook
Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty
My Thoughts: Ahh, editing, that most mysterious of art-forms. There are few categories at the Oscars that succumb to more confusion about what constitutes "greatness" than Editing. I mean, there's a strong possibility that the first nominee that I'm going to rake over the coals was the best editing, as it might have been a travesty of a film before the director took a-hold of it...but I doubt it.
Silver Linings Playbook's nomination here was one of those nominations you just role your eyes at and try to move on with your life. Every year a Best Picture manages to score a surprise nomination in a tech category despite few people predicting it and no discernible attribute of it screaming "nominate me," and that was definitely Silver Linings Playbook for Best Editing. Even if I give it the benefit of the doubt-the dancing sequence with "Girl From the North Country" (the best scene in the movie) is lovely, but the rest of the film is so oddly-structured and with huge leaps in the arches. The film's script has bothered me more and more as the months have gone by since I last saw it, and while there are still things that I love about the movie (that dance scene, the Lawrence performance), the editing is nothing to be celebrated with a film this scattered with its character decisions.
Lincoln is also not high on my editing list, but at least I see where AMPAS was going with this nomination. The film does indeed have patience with some of its scenes, but it's overdrive with celebrity hurts the editing branch. Blame it on the casting directors, but when the editors are piecing together who will be the decisive vote on the amendment, it's clearly going to be the Golden Globe nominee (Michael Stuhlberg) and not some random guy in the background. The editors have the good sense to keep most of Day-Lewis's epic soliloquies in the film, but they don't piece together a completely believable man. Lincoln the Saint is breathtaking in the moment with Day-Lewis, but as the film goes on, the editors make him too good to be true, a fault that many biopics of great men fall into, and the well-acted and well-written sequences can't really escape that fact.
Argo, another film about a rather sainted man, doesn't wear as well as you would hope months later. I don't think that we're going to be in a situation where the Academy is going to be scolded years from now about the movie (it's a very fine picture), but for truly loyal readers, don't just assume it's a shoo-in for Best Picture because it's the only one to nab five stars (I've currently got it in a tight-hold with my second place). That said, the editing still sings in my opinion. Those final moments, at the customs house, are so beautifully edited. My favorite bit in it is the way that they don't have John Goodman's character stumble one iota when he gets his confirmation call. Even though the mission is "off," even though he has no idea what is going on, he doesn't miss a beat-this is exactly what would have happened in real life with someone-you'd keep sticking with the story on the off-chance it would do some good. There's dozens of these small little cut decisions that make this film a great thriller. I particularly loved that they kept the extended bit with President Carter at the end of the film, and showed his authority in the movie, if only because it pushes back in time to when the man was more than a humanitarian and a FOX News punching bag-he was in fact the president. When it comes down to editing, what I like to think about are the little touches that I enjoyed, and whether they helped in the plot or in my sense of the movie, and with Argo, I feel that they did.
Whereas with Life of Pi, the strokes are a bit too long for me to get to enjoy the smaller moments of the film. While the sheer fact that some editor would take on such a daunting task as editing a book this introspective is impressive, that alone does not make you deserve an Oscar, or a nomination. The movie knows how to make us uncomfortable at sea-stretching out some scenes and not letting us ever forget that Richard Parker is indeed a wild beast who is lost at sea. They do a great service to us by teasing him to us, making us wait quite a bit until the tiger finally makes his appearance on the boat (if you didn't jump during that scene, you may want to get a CT scan). However, large expanses of the film become somewhat repetitive, and while this is realistic, Pi's constantly realizing the same lessons about the tiger are not. I also severely fault both the editors and the screenwriters for the ending of the film, which draws more and more from my good memories of the movie (a poor ending will do that to you-people will forget a bad middle, but not a bad beginning or end). The lack of ambiguity is a fatal mistake for the film, and something that should have been changed in the editing room.
Our final film is our first interaction with yet another Best Picture nominee (I feel as we start these write-ups as if we're meeting each of these nine films that we (or, if there are no commenters, I) will be talking about over the next week or two, and this is our sixth Best Picture to peruse. Like Lincoln and Life of Pi on this list, pacing is something that comes to mind when you think of ZDT's editing, but here so much is gained by the way the film feels. The movie shifts slowly, and wants to try your patience. The fact is that Bigelow is dealing with an ending which everyone in the world is aware-we all know that the target will be where Maya says he is. Therefore, the suspense has to be about something more than just the acquisition-it has to be about Maya herself, without giving us so much that it's obvious the shift is about this woman and not about the target. The editors do this by giving us Maya at the sidelines, not constantly focusing on her, but also on those around her, so we know how she got to the ending. It would have been so easy for Greenberg and Tichenor to have put in a scene of her stating she is changing, but they keep it subtle, and the pacing smooth.
Silver Linings Playbook's nomination here was one of those nominations you just role your eyes at and try to move on with your life. Every year a Best Picture manages to score a surprise nomination in a tech category despite few people predicting it and no discernible attribute of it screaming "nominate me," and that was definitely Silver Linings Playbook for Best Editing. Even if I give it the benefit of the doubt-the dancing sequence with "Girl From the North Country" (the best scene in the movie) is lovely, but the rest of the film is so oddly-structured and with huge leaps in the arches. The film's script has bothered me more and more as the months have gone by since I last saw it, and while there are still things that I love about the movie (that dance scene, the Lawrence performance), the editing is nothing to be celebrated with a film this scattered with its character decisions.
Lincoln is also not high on my editing list, but at least I see where AMPAS was going with this nomination. The film does indeed have patience with some of its scenes, but it's overdrive with celebrity hurts the editing branch. Blame it on the casting directors, but when the editors are piecing together who will be the decisive vote on the amendment, it's clearly going to be the Golden Globe nominee (Michael Stuhlberg) and not some random guy in the background. The editors have the good sense to keep most of Day-Lewis's epic soliloquies in the film, but they don't piece together a completely believable man. Lincoln the Saint is breathtaking in the moment with Day-Lewis, but as the film goes on, the editors make him too good to be true, a fault that many biopics of great men fall into, and the well-acted and well-written sequences can't really escape that fact.
Argo, another film about a rather sainted man, doesn't wear as well as you would hope months later. I don't think that we're going to be in a situation where the Academy is going to be scolded years from now about the movie (it's a very fine picture), but for truly loyal readers, don't just assume it's a shoo-in for Best Picture because it's the only one to nab five stars (I've currently got it in a tight-hold with my second place). That said, the editing still sings in my opinion. Those final moments, at the customs house, are so beautifully edited. My favorite bit in it is the way that they don't have John Goodman's character stumble one iota when he gets his confirmation call. Even though the mission is "off," even though he has no idea what is going on, he doesn't miss a beat-this is exactly what would have happened in real life with someone-you'd keep sticking with the story on the off-chance it would do some good. There's dozens of these small little cut decisions that make this film a great thriller. I particularly loved that they kept the extended bit with President Carter at the end of the film, and showed his authority in the movie, if only because it pushes back in time to when the man was more than a humanitarian and a FOX News punching bag-he was in fact the president. When it comes down to editing, what I like to think about are the little touches that I enjoyed, and whether they helped in the plot or in my sense of the movie, and with Argo, I feel that they did.
Whereas with Life of Pi, the strokes are a bit too long for me to get to enjoy the smaller moments of the film. While the sheer fact that some editor would take on such a daunting task as editing a book this introspective is impressive, that alone does not make you deserve an Oscar, or a nomination. The movie knows how to make us uncomfortable at sea-stretching out some scenes and not letting us ever forget that Richard Parker is indeed a wild beast who is lost at sea. They do a great service to us by teasing him to us, making us wait quite a bit until the tiger finally makes his appearance on the boat (if you didn't jump during that scene, you may want to get a CT scan). However, large expanses of the film become somewhat repetitive, and while this is realistic, Pi's constantly realizing the same lessons about the tiger are not. I also severely fault both the editors and the screenwriters for the ending of the film, which draws more and more from my good memories of the movie (a poor ending will do that to you-people will forget a bad middle, but not a bad beginning or end). The lack of ambiguity is a fatal mistake for the film, and something that should have been changed in the editing room.
Our final film is our first interaction with yet another Best Picture nominee (I feel as we start these write-ups as if we're meeting each of these nine films that we (or, if there are no commenters, I) will be talking about over the next week or two, and this is our sixth Best Picture to peruse. Like Lincoln and Life of Pi on this list, pacing is something that comes to mind when you think of ZDT's editing, but here so much is gained by the way the film feels. The movie shifts slowly, and wants to try your patience. The fact is that Bigelow is dealing with an ending which everyone in the world is aware-we all know that the target will be where Maya says he is. Therefore, the suspense has to be about something more than just the acquisition-it has to be about Maya herself, without giving us so much that it's obvious the shift is about this woman and not about the target. The editors do this by giving us Maya at the sidelines, not constantly focusing on her, but also on those around her, so we know how she got to the ending. It would have been so easy for Greenberg and Tichenor to have put in a scene of her stating she is changing, but they keep it subtle, and the pacing smooth.
Other Precursor Contenders: The ACE Eddie Awards split their nominations into Drama and Comedy, and so all five of these films are represented. Amongst the Drama contenders, Skyfall, a solid bet for sixth place considering its relative strength elsewhere, took the open slot, with Argo picking up the win. For Comedy, we have the Oscar-nominated Silver Linings Playbook winning the trophy over Les Miz, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, and Ted, a list that sort of makes me think they just picked five well-reviewed comedies/musicals and didn't actually pay any attention to the editing. Backing up my bet for its sixth place position, Skyfall also got a slot at the BAFTA's (trumping Silver Linings Playbook), as did Django Unchained (taking out Lincoln in a bit of a head-scratcher) and once again Argo emerged victorious.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I could focus a bit on how Skyfall is better than three of the nominees, and therefore deserved a slot, but that's too easy-I'm going with a film that could trump all of them and wasn't anywhere near a nomination-The Master, an epic tale from Paul Thomas Anderson with terrific character development through its slow and enigmatic pacing. A tour de force, and the terrific Peter McNulty deserved to finally get an Oscar nod for his work.
Oscar's Choice: Like all of the precursors, Oscar wanted to give Argo a bone outside of the Best Picture race, and so it won this trophy probably by a country mile over Life of Pi.
My Choice: For me, it comes down to a race between Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, and what ZDT is doing is more complex and equally successful, so it gets my vote. In third place is Lincoln, followed by Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook.
There's lots to comment about (as this is one of our first races to feature five Best Picture nominees), but I'll throw out-did anyone think Silver Linings Playbook was amongst the year's five best? Which films deserved to take its place if you thought it was a throwaway nomination? And who had the Best Editing of 2012?
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