Hans’ Oscar Bites

Oscar Bites #15 – BEST FILM EDITING
once again I am asking editors to do better in reining in the whims of long-winded directors. More and more these days I’m like “oh great, a film is 100 minutes? Extra automatic half star for you.” Or make it like 3+ hours so I know I can just settle in as if I’m bingeing a show. That said? Some of the 2-3hr projects actually managed to use their time efficiently.

The nominees are:
-F1
-Marty Supreme
-One Battle After Another
-Sentimental Value
-Sinners

In order of preference:
5) MARTY SUPREME (Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie)
But it’s hard to rein in your director when they are their own editor! Safdie obviously keeps in a lot of scenes that he was passionate about directing, always making sure to center Chalamet, but, as discussed in my Original Screenplay bite, with the number of characters that get fleshed out we end up starting to feel a little bloated. Nonetheless, the table tennis scenes obviously lend themselves to some pretty fun and frenetic editing.

4) SINNERS (Michael P. Shawver)
This may be the one craft area I have the most to nitpick with my beloved Sinners, as I think, again, harkening back to the Screenplay discussion, the film does feel like it takes an almost abrupt tonal shift when vampires are introduced. For my taste this takes perhaps a beat or two too long to get to that second act, and I think that’s a legitimate complaint shared by others. It all mostly worked for me, but had some of the more supernatural stuff been woven in more naturally within act one it might have dampened down that criticism I’ve seen here and there.

3) SENTIMENTAL VALUE (Olivier Bugge Coutté)
This is the nomination that felt like the most pleasant surprise in this category. No obvious baity quick cuts or kinetic montages, just kind of a consistent flow from beginning to end, weaving together this familial story that while serving as a support to the story. My favorite analogy I’ve used since the beginning of this of good editing is like having a good bus driver: if you don’t even notice the driving and you’re free to take in all the sights around you and listen to the tour guide, then that’s good editing.

2) F1 (Stephen Mirrione)
On the other hand, sometimes a movie is ALL. THE. EDITING. And you just have to go along for the ride (I guess in my bus driver analogy, this would be the equivalent of going on a roller coaster ride). Although clocking in at 2.5 hrs, thanks to the myriad of vroom vroom scenes peppered throughout this film, it never quite feels like it’s lagging all that much. I would go a step further and say the editing manages to salvage a somewhat weak script, where we’re otherwise just kinda waiting for the next vroom vroom but still building enough story and stakes in between.

1) ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (Andy Jurgensen)
I really had mixed feelings on my initial watch of this film’s editing as I felt we could have easily chopped out 30-40 minutes here or there for a nice tight 2 hour film. On rewatch I was much more impressed by how deliberate some of the work is here, dividing up the film into distinct and discrete chapters while still keeping the pace, much of it thanks to Jonny Greenwood’s score. The final chase sequence, of course, is a masterclass.

• WILL WIN: One Battle After Another
• COULD WIN: F1
• SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE: Black Bag; a tight 90 minute thriller!