OVP: Best Film Editing (1999)
The Nominees Were...
Tariq Anwar & Christopher Greenbury, American Beauty
Lisa Zeno Churgin, The Cider House Rules
William Goldenberg, Paul Rubell, & David Rosenbloom, The Insider
Zach Staenberg, The Matrix
Andrew Mondshein, The Sixth Sense
My Thoughts: All right, we are moving into the Best Editing category, which here also means that we are moving into the Best Picture nominees of 1999. Four of these films were cited for Best Picture, which is generally what you'd see when you were looking at the 1990's. Best Editing is an easy corollary for Best Picture, to be honest. I've done Oscar My Ballots from 2000-23, and only 13 of the nominees (and one gold medalist) weren't in the Best Picture field (albeit it's a ten-wide Best Picture with a five-wide Best Editing, so the 1999 corollary doesn't really work as if they were both a Top 5, it'd be different, but I digress). The point is, most people associate Best Picture with Best Editing and they do it for a reason.
I mean, look at something like The Sixth Sense. The movie, a mammoth hit for both its scares and its twist ending, is a textbook definition of good editing. Not only does Andrew Mondshein's careful cutting of the film allow for the movie's big reveal at the end, but it also heightens the entire film's gaze. Much of the movie is alternating between a few well-timed jump scares and a growing sense of isolation, the way that Osment's character can find his mother and his friend (Willis's character) and give them a sense of connection in a world that they otherwise can't. That spacing is really critical, and something whose strength comes from the editing.
The same can be said for The Insider. Thrillers, more than any other genre, are reliant on strong editing, giving us moments of quickness followed by moments where the audience is dangling, all while building a case behind the front of the story about where this is finishing. You get that in the way that the team approaches the 60 Minutes interviews in this picture, the pin-drop silence that happens when there's no way to escape the camera's glare. This is also a really smart film-there's nothing dumbed down here to make the audience understand the stakes. We get it...we don't need spoon-feeding (the way this 100% would've needed you to understand where this stood on the partisan divide in a modern thriller makes me groan). Really tough stuff.
American Beauty is more dreamlike in the way it approaches the editing. The film includes Kevin Spacey's Lester's flights-of-fancy, some of which have been borrowed from so ferociously in the years that followed that you'd be forgiven for thinking the original is bordering on cliche...but it's not. This is really solid filmmaking, particularly in the way that it gives us several unfolding mysteries (Lester's death, specifically, but also how everyone will end up a part of it) all at once. I just wish the script gave them a better way to handle the last 15 minutes of the picture, when much of its bitterness gives way to pablum. Otherwise, a strong movie.
The final Best Picture nominee was The Cider House Rules, and while I like this movie way more than its reputation now (though nowhere near as much as Oscar did), I think this nomination is stupid. If anything, the film's editing is a weak point. The picture over-telegraphs messages of morality (particularly when it comes to the handling of both Erykah Badu and Paul Rudd's characters), and if you don't see the "surprise" twist at the end coming, congratulations on watching your first movie. The sappiness is effective (Michael Caine & Rachel Portman see to that), but it's not helped in the editing room.
Our final nominee is not from a Best Picture nominee, though in a ten-wide field it certainly would've been. The Matrix got statues for all of its nominations, and the one win it took that pretty much no one expected in 1999. I think this is an inspired victory, though. The movie, like The Insider, is smart without ever indulging in intellectual naval-gazing (and with this high concept of an idea, that's not easy). I loved the use of the visual effects, the repetition and visualization of them, as well as the pacing at the beginning of the movie that feels frenetic, so it's more pronounced when the picture slows down. There's a reason this inspired a generation of filmmakers in terms of its style-it's that good.
Other Precursor Contenders: The ACE Eddie Awards separate their categories between Comedy/Musical and Drama, so we have ten nominations. For Comedy/Musical we have Being John Malkovich winning over Analyze This, Election, Man on the Moon, & Run Lola Run, while Drama went to The Matrix against American Beauty, The Insider, The Sixth Sense, and The Talented Mr. Ripley. American Beauty took the BAFTA against Being John Malkovich, The Matrix, & The Sixth Sense. I know Being John Malkovich got two precursors, but I am not totally sold that it's the next one up (though it could be). Ripley or The Green Mile would also make sense...but Being John Malkovich also got in for writing and directing, so perhaps I'm just being obtuse here.
Films I Would Have Nominated: If we're going to include The Sixth Sense's distinctive style and twist ending, why can't we also include David Fincher's Fight Club, another movie that spawned dozens of copycats and had its own surprise finish.
Oscar's Choice: In one of the biggest upsets of the night, The Matrix completed its sweep, besting presumed frontrunner American Beauty.
My Choice: When Oscar gets it right, he gets it right, and The Matrix was the right choice, though I wouldn't have been mad if The Sixth Sense (in second) had taken it. Behind these two are (in order) The Insider, American Beauty, and The Cider House Rules.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Are we all good with The Matrix taking this statue, or is there a favorite we're missing from Oscar's selections? Why do you think Oscar randomly decided to go for a non-Best Picture nominee here (the only time in the 1990's it happened)? And was it The Green Mile, Being John Malkovich, or The Talented Mr. Ripley in third place? Share your thoughts below!
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