OVP: Best Sound Editing (2017)
The Nominees Were...
Julian Slater, Baby Driver
Mark Mangini & Theo Green, Blade Runner 2049
Richard King & Alex Gibson, Dunkirk
Nathan Robitaille & Nelson Ferreira, The Shape of Water
Matthew Wood & Ren Klyce, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
My Thoughts: It feels weird at this point to do Sound Editing write-ups, right? As we get further back into the Oscar Viewing Project, we are going to get to an era where we run into categories that are long-dormant, even categories like Motion Picture Story and Song Score, that no longer exist. Sound Editing, of course, existed when we began this blog as a regular category, but as of 2020 it's not on the Oscars anymore, and so I know we have a ticking clock on how many of these we'll get into. Arguably one of the death knell years for the category might've been in 2017, not because it's not a good lineup (with one exception, this is a very strong lineup), but because both Sound Mixing & Editing totally matched, which (when we get to My Oscar Ballot at the end of this season) shouldn't have been the case.
As we'll be visiting both of these lineups in the next three days, let's start with one of the movies we'll be leaving behind once we're out of Sound: Baby Driver. The film followed in Drive's footsteps by getting nominated here (unlike Drive, it scored elsewhere), and it's easy to see why. The movie's love of racing cars is exhilarating. It lacks its predecessor's darker undercurrent, but makes up for it with a lot more fun & variety in its car chases, Baby's life getting increasingly darker the longer we're focused on it, and the chases becoming steelier (showing the range of what the film is capable of) the longer we're in the driver's seat. That creativity is blessed, and I am so proud of AMPAS for recognizing a film that doesn't scream "Oscar bait!"
A movie that feels a bit more in Oscar's wheelhouse, but which we'll also be leaving behind after we're done on Wednesday with Sound is Blade Runner 2049. The movie, like Baby Driver, feels like it's tailor-made for this category, and it shows in the rich use of technology & robotics humming in every scene. We get to see the transports, the glowing screens, and feel their soft hums & hardened engines keeping the action apace. The film doesn't quite have the iconography of its original in this one, but that's a bit of a stretch in terms of punishing it-it's living up to an all-timer.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is our last film we'll leave with the Sound categories, and here we have another movie working in the shadows of a legend. Of course the thrill of a lightsaber unsheathing will never entirely go away, but at this point it's hardly original anymore, so the best effects are borrowed from other movies. Still, the Battle of Crait alone would justify inclusion here, with rusty, frequently broken-down ships giving much personality to the already glorious (visual) fight onscreen.
Dunkirk is kind of in a class by itself in terms of its sound design. There's a reason that people got nauseous watching this their first time in theaters, and it wasn't just that the crashing waves & the technical cinematography is making that happen. We also have a variety of transports (by land, air, & sea) infiltrating every corner of this dialogue-scarce movie, and doing a lot of the heavy-lifting in terms of its sound work. It's easily Nolan's best sound editing from a man who has historically struggled with making sure everything in his movies is legible to the human ear.
The one movie I'd argue isn't really up-to-snuff for this category is The Shape of Water. Admittedly, we should never confuse "most" with "best" but it's hard not to look at Shape and not think "what sound editing, exactly?" The film is definitely not centralized on its sound editing, and the scenes where it does show up (the creature emerging from the water, the floating apartment filled with water), it's not all that original. I will give it credit for not being bad sound editing, by any means, but if you're going to win an Oscar I feel like you should be trying harder.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Reel Awards split their categories between live-action & animated. Live action went with Blade Runner 2049 as its winner, with Baby Driver, Dunkirk, Logan, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Shape of Water, Thor: Ragnarok, & War for the Planet of the Apes falling in its wake, while Coco bested Cars 3, Despicable Me 3, Ferdinand, The Breadwinner, and The Lego Batman Movie for animated. In terms of sixth place, without a clear "odd man out" from Mixing, I'm going to favor Darkest Hour considering its overall awards run in 2017, though Planet of the Apes or even Wonder Woman might make sense even if they weren't as popular with Oscar in other categories. For the record, I called this category verbatim in 2017.
Films I Would Have Nominated: This is a very good lineup, so I'm not going to quibble too much. However, The Lost City of Z, one of the many fascinating films in recent years from James Gray, boldly takes on the early precipices of the jungle with aural precision.
Oscar’s Choice: Dunkirk takes it over Blade Runner, by how much I cannot say.
My Choice: I am also going to give it to Dunkirk, but here over Baby Driver, as I think the technical skill in Dunkirk is simply impossible to ignore. Blade Runner, The Last Jedi, and The Shape of Water finish off the category.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Is everyone on Team Nolan on this one, or does someone want to fight for one of our other worthy challengers? Will there ever be a day that a Star Wars film wins another Oscar, or is it destined to lose for the rest of time? And what do you think was sixth place here (honestly, there are no wrong answers as I'm shooting in the dark with the Churchill biopic)? Share your thoughts below in the comments!
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