One Category at a Time: Sound Mixing

This is another one of those categories that seems fairly transparent from afar. I suspect one film to be unanimously predicted by pundits, and then to win, naturally. But even though it looks to be an open and shut case, the other nominees sport excellent sound work, and very much deserve the recognition that their nominations imply.

The sound branch nominated four of the same titles that were cited by the Cinema Audio Society, with only Iron Man 3 failing to translate that CAS nod into an Oscar nod. That is all very usual. Also very usual is the high degree of overlap between this category and Best Sound Editing. Only one of the Sound Mixing nominees did not receive an accompanying nomination in its brother category, and that's the one we'll start with...

My Award nominations: Sound Mixing

The sound people provided us with a wealth of rich sounding films this year. I once thought that my own award would be a slam dunk for one film in particular, but as I look at my final five, I honestly don't know which one I'm going to crown the best Sound Mixing of the year. They're all so deserving...

True Grit takes CAS

The Coens' trusty sound team, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter Kurland repeated their 2008 victory for No Country for Old Men by winning the Cinema Audio Society Award last night, this time for True Grit. Good for them. It is a fine mix, even if not the best of the nominees.

Inception feels awfully vulnerable, in both Sound categories actually, but I think I'll stick with it. Remember, No Country for Old Men's subtle mix ended up losing the Oscar to a loud, respected action flick. And the CAS only correctly anticipates Oscar a little more than half the time, and having done so the last two years in a row, this just feels like a year when the two groups will go separate ways.

Still, I've got a uneasy feeling about this. Maybe we'll see a split?

Best of the Decade #8: No Country for Old Men (2007)

Hopelessly dire in its content and tone, No Country for Old Men is the most entertainingly depressing film of the decade, and an A+ social commentary from the prolific Coen brothers. As implied by its ambiguous and divisive ending about a discouraging dream had by the film's hero and moral centre (played with superb restraint by Tommy Lee Jones), the main theme of the film is about the futility of battling evil, and the desperation felt by those that take up the good fight anyway. Like the film’s steely villain (an outstandingly creepy Javier Bardem), violence and chaos cannot be stopped. Delayed, wounded perhaps, but to try and vanquish it is a fool’s errand. It'll walk the earth ‘til the end of time. Fun, huh? The Coens also dabble with themes of the randomness of the universe, what we can chalk up to fate and what we can control ourselves.

Ever the visual storytellers, the Coens and their DP of choice, Roger Deakins, give the film a dark and foreboding atmosphere. The Coens themselves (under their longtime pseudonym Roderick Jaynes) cut the footage together as only they can, amping up the excitement so subtly that you barely notice. Equal praise must be given to sound designer Skip Lievsay, whose nuanced sound mix is one of the most effective of the decade.