Let’s dispense for a moment with the fact that there are questions as to whether a film directed by an alleged serial sexual predator should be receiving industry awards in the first place. Let’s focus instead on the fact that people are somewhat… baffled… by the fact that Bohemian Rhapsody won the Oscar for Best Editing.
This isn’t to say that Bohemian Rhapsody – which also scored a litany of Golden Globes awards – doesn’t have its charms. By all accounts, Rami Malek makes for an excellent Freddie Mercury, and there are few betting against him in the Best Actor stakes. But is it a well-edited film? At all?
Many are pointing to this clip, which was widely shared in the lead-up to awards season. You don’t have to be an expert editor to realise that it kind of looks like an iMovie project:
People, actual fucking people, are watching scene after scene like this and are saying “bruuuh! best. movie. of. the. year”?
This is objectively bad. Someone with no idea about editing will notice it. My brain is on fire thinking that this is an OSCAR NOMINATED MOVIE! FUCK! pic.twitter.com/QVDCxe2iaf— Pramit (@pramitheus) January 26, 2019
It’s like the people guiding the edit were afraid that if you don’t show Freddie every two seconds the people in the cinema will forget that it’s a movie about Queen. To be honest, dropping an iPhone off a bridge while it was still filming would likely present a more coherent edit than this. It’s entirely possible that the Academy thinks ‘Best Editing’ means ‘Most Cuts’.
Even the most committed BoRap stan would have to admit that the editing is maybe not the movie’s strongest point. The reactions range from perplexed to annoyed.
WITHOUT A DOUBT THE WORST EDITING IN A MOVIE THAT CAME OUT IN 2018
— josh lewis (@thejoshl) February 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/BeautiFilm_/status/1099856408596660225
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1099858900365570055
bohemian rhapsody wins best editing #Oscars pic.twitter.com/qa3PSELvmA
— j a r e d (@jaredsletterbox) February 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/dmhnaIl/status/1099856553211916288
https://twitter.com/cockoracle/status/1099856365307125761
https://twitter.com/jacobdcrawley/status/1099856270507606016
https://twitter.com/kylieisntfunny/status/1099858256048967680
Okay, and this spicy take:
https://twitter.com/davidehrlich/status/1099856904954806272
Historically, the film which wins Best Editing has a very, very good shot at scoring Best Picture. So get ready for the discourse if that happens!
