Awards

Contenders – Sound Mixers/Editors Chris Jenkins, Nicholas Renbeck, Eugene Gearty and Edward Tise, Love & Mercy

The lines between genius and madness blur inside the mind of Brian Wilson as he’s portrayed in director Bill Pohlad’s Beach Boys biopic Love & Mercy, distributed by Roadside Attractions. Using sound, the film paints a beautiful and discordant picture of what Wilson hears in his head – the music and mania that make the man. Love & Mercy splits Wilson’s life into two distinct parts, the young Brian of the ’60s (played by Paul Dano) in the time surrounding the “Pet Sounds” album, and the middle-aged Brian of the ’80s (played by John Cusack) who struggles daily with reality. The two parts interweave like one of Wilson’s vocal harmonies, giving the audience an idea of how Wilson ended up over-medicated and socially subjugated by the imperious Dr. Landy, who controls everything from what Brian eats to who he talks to. […]

Awards

Contenders – Sound Mixers Geoffrey Patterson, Glenfield Payne and Martin Czembor, Beasts Of No Nation

“Ma! Ma!” 12-year-old child-soldier Agu (played by Abraham Attah) cries as he wraps himself around the woman’s legs. “I found you! I was looking for you!” The woman repeats, “I’m not your mother!” as she clings desperately to her own young daughter who is being pulled away by another child-soldier. Agu looks into the woman’s face, shocked to find a stranger looking back. “You’re not my mother! Witch woman! You fooled me!” he yells. The other soldiers grab the woman to rape her as Agu exits to the hall where the woman’s daughter is being stomped to death. Director Cary Fukunaga’s African war drama Beasts of No Nation – the first Netflix original feature film, feels so real that it’s disturbing to watch. “The connection we feel to this young man is unmistakable and if you allow yourself to get roped into it, as most of us do, then you can’t help but to have those feelings,” said the film’s sound mixer Geoffrey Patterson. “The story is told through Agu’s eyes and his intimate voiceovers let us know what he’s thinking. It’s also told through his ears, what he is hearing every step of the way. Creating that environment of what Agu was seeing and hearing was really important.” […]

Awards

Contender – Sound Designer Tamás Zányi, Son of Saul

Whether it’s a true account, like Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, or a dramatic film, such as Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, personal stories help people comprehend the unfathomable atrocities of the Holocaust. And here we have another tale with Hungarian director László Nemes’ film Son of Saul, a story singly focused on one man’s Holocaust experience. […]