Addicts 2007: Editing

Best Editing

Hairspray

Michael Tronick

The reasons I enjoyed Hairspray were not weighted towards the acting (which is admittedly sound), nor towards the music (which I liked but didn't love). It was in fact the energy that the film instilled in me. It's such a lightning-quick journey but Hairspray seems to want to involve you in its antics like a coach driver instigating a spontaneous sing-a-long. The film is so well cut that it eeks every morsel of life out of its story, and like Tracey, never puts a foot wrong.

I’m Not There

Jay Rabinowitz

It isn't only the course of true love that doesn't entirely run smoothly, but I'm Not There can certainly be forgiven for crafting it. The film has no real fixed structure, and so I imagine editing this film was a bit like editing all of Bob Dylan's stage performances into ninety minutes: where do you begin? Even though the collection of Dylan clones remain distinctly fragmented and representative of altogether different aspects of him, Rabinowitz helps to maintain a coherent exploration of character.

Into The Wild

Jay Cassidy

It's a massive credit to Sean Penn that the film feels as relaxed and ruminative as it does, but where would he be without Cassidy? The film's style is so complex, taking music that might traditionally bear road-trip connotations, and blending it into a profound character study. Whether going it alone, or interacting with the various souls Chris encounters, Cassidy's contribution ultimately benefits the expression of dislocation that makes Into The Wild so effective.

A Mighty Heart

Peter Christelis

I can't think of a film this year in which the editing was as ambitious as this. The pulsating, investigative way in which the film moves is so incredible because what it details is such a dark, mysterious puzzle, and yet we can completely follow the characters in their attempts to piece it together. As an audience member I realise how immersed I was in the film at the time, and this is partly down to Christelis. Every cut feels like we've willed it to happen: every breakthrough a relief, every false alarm agonising. Stunning.

We Own the Night

John Axelrad

This isn't a sole shout-out to the film's action sequences (which are confidently put together) but rather the film as a whole. Axelrad's editing seems to linger with you in a way that doesn't feel orchestrated or deliberate in the moment (I'm thinking of the misty finale and a man dying in the rain), like perhaps No Country For Old Men's editing sometimes tends to. Slick, but eminently necessary for getting the most out of the script.

Winner: A Mighty Heart

Runner-Up: Into The Wild

Sad To Exclude: Dana Bunescu, of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Minimal but impacting. Sheng-Chang Chen who helped to make I Don't Want To Sleep Alone such a fluent, engaging piece, and The Coens for No Country For Old Men, which is smartly done, despite what I said earlier.