Films that are a master class in editing

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eco_bach

Well-known member
Anyone care to share films that exemplify the power of editing to take a film to an entirely new level? One that stands out for me and is worth viewing again is Breaker Morant.

And I vote for a editing sub forum!
 
eco_bach said:
Anyone care to share films that exemplify the power of editing to take a film to an entirely new level?
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Cloud Atlas. This film is an editing masterclass! The editing raises the film even higher than the book, and that's saying something.

People just don't know what they're missing. First film to break into my personal top 10 favorites in decades. And almost solely because of the masterful editing.

But this film isn't aimed at the 14yo boys demographic. It's not a summer blockbuster. This is an adult film, and it takes a level of sophistication to "get it". Something just about all of us on this forum have. So I'm mystified why so many people turn up their noses at a film they haven't even seen. But there it is.
 
I agree with J Davis about Memento. I also like Fight Club and Pulp Fiction. The latter seemed to only work in the way it was edited. I heard someone edited it together chronologically and it was a boring movie!

Apocalypse Now is another good one. I remember my professor in editing class from film school fawned over that film edited by Walter Murch.
 
J Davis said:
without question the top of the list is Memento
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That's exactly the movie I was about to list, first one that came to my mind. I think it's even better than Pulp Fiction, even if this one was the "first" of the genre to hit the screens.
nycineaste said:
domino?
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Not bad. Masterclass, I wouldn't say that though. But pretty much all of Tony Scott's movies feature a similar editing style, proper to Mr Scott.

What would define an Editing Masterclass in fact? I mean, all the shots are the director's "vision", assembled together via the editing process. Without the director's vision, it wouldn't be the same: replace Mr Scott on Domino...even with the same editor, it would have been a totally different movie in the tone, pace and rythm. So, what exactly defines an Editing Masterclass?
 
eco_bach said:
One that stands out for me and is worth viewing again is Breaker Morant.
Click to expand...

I'll add Argo to the list. Watched it on blu-ray last night. I was struck by the way the editor used the sound and dialog layered over the cuts -- creating juxapositions that helped tell the emotional part of the story while moving the story forward, sometimes by leaps and bounds. Really hard to do well. Maybe that's why they awarded William Goldenberg an Oscar for it.
 
I was going to start with JFK, but the list is already growing. Add:

Life of Pi
Spun
Pink Floyd's The Wall
Brazil
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Triangle
The Usual Suspects
The Sixth Sense
A Scanner Darkly
The Matrix
Inception
Looper
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
Mulholland Drive
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Lake Mungo (John Brawley Dp!)

Think of more later.

PS

The Princess Bride! (duh)
 
Here is a list of the winners and nominees for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. In these lists, I think that it important to look at the nominees, as they are selected by a ballot of the members of the Editing Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the winners are selected by a subsequent ballot of all active and life members of the Academy. If you want to see great editing, I would look to those films.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Film_Editing
 
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