Ranking Oscar Nominees/Personal Ranking: Best Film Editing

Oscar Nominees:

5. Hell or High Water

A very strong set of nominees, and in terms of the quality of the films, this is probably the strongest overall category. I may have found the pace of Hell or High Water to be a bit slow at points, but I think that was the intention; my reservations in this regard are entirely subjective. Beyond that, I thought Jake Roberts did an excellent job of seamlessly integrating the two plotlines of the lawmen and criminals together. As he showed last year with Brooklyn, he really has a knack for letting the film slowly grow on you. The bank heist scenes are the highlights of his work as their pieced together in such a taut, efficient and quite powerful fashion.

4. Moonlight

Beautifully understated work. Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon have crafted a minor-key masterpiece in editing. In the flashier, more stylized scenes, their work is stupendous in switching between close-up shots of the characters' faces and their surroundings, whether it's in the fateful 'hit him' scene, the beachside scenes, Juan and Paula's 'You Gonna Raise My Son?' confrontation, the diner scenes (that Cuban dish looked tasty and the editing of the cooking makes it look absolutely sumptuous), they all atune themselves perfectly to the unique visual style of the film. Then in a more general sense the film goes across three distinct timelines without ever feeling like it drags, they all feel very interconnected, and the way each section and scene transitions into the next is all pretty much perfect.

3. Arrival

Arrival is a very interesting case of a re-watch. My overall thoughts on it remain the same - great film if imperfect in parts - but my views on aspects of it have changed. For example, I've developed some reservations about the screenplay, which I'll get onto soon enough. However, other aspects have only grown in my esteem, including the most essential attribute of the film which is quite easily my win in its respective category. The editing, too, is a part of the film I've grown to appreciate more with time. Joe Walker, whose last collaboration with Denis Villeneuve in Sicario was tremendous, matches the excellence of his work there with his work here. The opening and ending of the film is powerful and the editing is so essential to this, with the way scenes are pieced together in a puzzle that's always before our eyes, but only ever so slowly unravels. His flair remains evident in the more dialogic scenes, but it's in the grand and emotionally power sequences of meeting the Aliens, the 'flashbacks', and the revelations, where his work is most resonantly felt.

2. La La Land

Brilliant work in pretty much every regard in the editing department, Tom Cross' work may not be as exhilarating as his Whiplash, all-time great mastery of the musical set piece, but it is no less impressive. His work is actually very subtle, it never draws attention specifically to itself, but that's the mark of excellent editing. Whether it's the highlight scenes of the musical sequences, or the more low-key scenes of the burgeoning romance, or a combination of both, I loved almost every moment of the film's progression because of his work. Now I will mention a reservation, I felt a bit of a lull in the third act of the film, specifically between Mia's failed play and Sebastian's visit to Boulder City. Those scenes felt somewhat routine and I found myself momentarily less impressed. Which doesn't diminish my overall views of the film's editing as it soon segues into some of the most inspired editing of 2016, including that mesmerizing 'Epilogue' dream sequence. So yeah, I'll shut up about that (very minor and very subjective) reservation in the future.

1. Hacksaw Ridge

As much as I loved the editing to La La Land, this one is easily the best edited film of the year for me, and actually might be the best edited film of the 2010's for me, personally. John Gilbert was nominated for his work on The Fellowship of the Ring, but you'd have thought he'd done the other two films as well with his outstanding work in the WWII battle sequences. Each brilliant setpiece is followed by another magnificent setpiece, you get such an all-encompassing scope to the Battle of Okinawa and all the different horrors without ever losing sight of Desmond Doss' heroics. That final montage of victory, almost wordless, is so powerful because of Gilbert's seamless flow. Then in a more general sense the first half of the film never feels slow, moves along beautifully in terms of swiftly but effectively introducing us to the man, his environment and his philosophy, and just to highlight I think the bootcamp and courtroom scenes are particular highlights of the film in terms of pacing.

Personal Nominees:

5. Arrival

4. Hunt for the Wilderpeople

The funniest film of the year also feels one of the breeziest, not necessarily in terms of tone but just by how smoothly it flows between comedy to drama to blends of both. Credit must be given to the trio of Luke Haigh, Tom Eagles, and Yana Gorskaya. Each chapter of Uncle Hec and Ricky Baker's adventure is memorable not just because it's beautifully written, directed and acted, but because the editing allows each mise en scene to imprint itself into your mind. That Leonard Cohen montage is particularly memorable because of the editing, as is that finale which could've fallen flat had the editors not prevision-ed this sudden tonal change with the gradual buildup of kinetic energy beforehand.

3. La La Land

2. Silence

(It's in Italian here, but the scene is brilliant edited)

Firstly, any film at over 160 minutes long that keeps me totally invested despite the slow-burn nature of the source material deserves some credit. Unlike say, The Revenant last year, Silence maintains both an epic scope and epic length without losing any of the script's intrinsic power by how effectively its narrative structure and editing coalesce. Thelma Schoonmaker is on point as always with her editing abilities, and I liked some little tricks she played with her usual techniques, for example the integration of sudden still images, which worked so well in The Departed and The Wolf of Wall Street recently for that gritty, neo-noir sort of feel and a meta, fourth-wall breaking sense, is here used for something truly inspired and profound. Schoonmaker makes each scene of the film feel so alive even as the characters are so repressed and silent, the opening stages of the film with Rodrigues and Garrupe in hiding are particularly impressive in how energized they feel within the technical static-ness of their position, with the occasional marvel like Kichijiro's flashback. The third act of the film is where the mastery truly kicks in, with harrowing sequences like Garrupe's last scene, THAT scene, and also the last few minutes could have felt overlong if Schoonmaker hadn' made them feel so integral to the film's last few waves.  

1. Hacksaw Ridge

HM's: Swiss Army Man, Eye in the Sky, Captain America: Civil War, Train to Busan, Green Room, Manchester by the Sea

1. Hacksaw Ridge
2. Silence
3. La La Land
4. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
5. Arrival
6. Moonlight
7. Hell or High Water
8. Captain America: Civil War
9. Swiss Army Man
10. Eye in the Sky