For Your Consideration:
Chris Herrington and Greg Akers, the Memphis Flyer‘s film editor and one of its writers, respectively, engage on a regular basis in conversation and occasional debate about the movies. Since 2009, the duo have been pulling out all the stops once a year to delve into the Oscars, with a series of posts on MemphisFlyer.com making predictions about who will win, arguing who should win, and considering who got robbed. Though they disagree a little about the ultimate value of the Oscars (“They suck but I put up with them!” Herrington says. “They suck but I love them!” Akers says.), this veritable Thelma and Louise gleefully put the pedal to the metal and drive off the cliff into the Grand Canyon of Oscar discussion.
Herrington makes his Oscar predictions with a little bit of intuition and a little more reasoned consideration. So long as it doesn’t cut into his time thinking about the Charlotte Bobcats bench. (Nerd!)
Akers makes his Oscar predictions with a little bit of intuition and a little more in-depth research into award trends and history. To prepare this year, he made a spreadsheet of the last 16 years showing the winners of the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, PGAs, SAGs, WGAs, DGAs, ACEs, and ASCs. Seriously. (Nerd!)
This week, Herrington and Akers will be looking at the categories of Editing and Cinematography (today); Actor and Actress (Tuesday); Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress (Wednesday); Adapted Screenplay and Original Screenplay (Thursday); and Director and Picture (Friday).
Without further delay, wheels up …
Best Editing
Nominees: The Artist, The Descendants, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, Moneyball
Greg Akers: As you know, the Eddie Awards (by the American Cinema Editors) haven’t been handed out yet as of the time of this writing, so I’m flying dark here a little. The Eddies have predicted the Oscar 10 years in a row, so I reserve the right to change this pick for actual moneyed pool purposes before the ceremony**. All-time-great editor/Scorsese collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker makes the list again, and she did excellent work in a technically brilliant film, so I’m going to guess she’ll get her fourth Oscar this year. Will Win: Hugo. **Note: The Eddies went to The Artist and The Descendants, so if you’re in some kind of Oscar contest, probably you should pick one of those.
Should Win goes to Hugo as well. The Artist is awfully straightforward and intentionally old-fashioned. I don’t remember anything in particular about the editing in The Descendants. Dragon Tattoo is a strong candidate, effectively balancing two time frames and two main characters’ stories. As for Moneyball … well, I’ll reserve my disdain for Moneyball for a later category. My problem isn’t really the editing, though.
Got Robbed: I’m flabbergasted that The Tree of Life didn’t get nominated. Maybe it’s because there are five editors credited for the film? Whatever it is, total robbery. Tree of Life is a visually impressionistic film in which a narrative slowly emerges. It’s an overwhelming series of images that build no less than from cosmic birth to death, and does so in a manner that suggests both the elastic and linear natures of time (and does THAT in an extremely linear medium). There are probably an infinite number of ways the film could be edited, and, truly, the plot of the film comes from the editing more than the script. The essence of the film is in the editing as much as anywhere.
