In case you missed it, the editor of Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, John Ottman, won an Oscar for best editing, leaving scores of professionals and film nerds questioning the decision and saying that, in fact, the editing is fucking awful. If you’re still wondering why a lot of people have this opinion, a YouTuber has broken it down for you in detail.
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There’s one scene in particular which the critics are calling out, and the YouTube channel, Thomas Flight, does a really good job of explaining it. The crux of the argument is that the editing simply does not match the mood of what’s happening. There are too many cuts, they happen far too often, and many of them are meaningless.
In fact, in that one 104-second scene, there are 60 cuts, which is enormous and frankly, unnecessary. He also puts the whole thing in context by comparing it to other films.
When I say he goes into detail, I mean it, folks. The whole video is over 13 minutes long, but it certainly leaves you with a greater understanding of film editing by the end. You can check it out for yourself below.
It’s particularly interesting when Flight goes into the motivations for cutting shots, which isn’t something a lot of people consider when watching a movie.
So there you have it, folks, that’s why some people are pissed off that Bohemian Rhapsody won an Oscar for best editing.
