Denis Villeneuve’s beautiful and bruising “Sicario” was one of our favorite movies of last year, clocking in at second on our best of 2015 feature. It’s a slow-burn of a film, more thriller than action flick, that favors subtlety and character over explosions and set pieces (which is not to say that the film’s set pieces are anything but perfectly executed). And while much of our conversation in the past has surrounded the gorgeous, Oscar-nominated cinematography from Roger Deakins, which deserves all the praise that one could possibly heap upon it, one truly masterful aspect of Villeneuve’s film is its soundscape.
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Because, lest we forget, “Sicario” was also nominated for its sound editing (by regular Clint Eastwood collaborator Alan Robert Murray), which is the pounding, pulsing counterpart to Deakins’ taut lensing of the severe Southwest landscape. To highlight just how great the sounds of “Sicario” really are, Zackery Ramos-Taylor has put together a brief supercut. “Hearing ‘Sicario’,” which is part of a series focused on the sound editing Oscar nominees, cuts together the crisp wallops and heavy sighs of Murray’s work.
It’s a compelling way to look at a film (or better yet, hear it), and is well worth a few minutes of your day — especially because sound editing is so often a category forgone to blockbusters, so when something like “Sicario” can sneak in it’s worth paying attention to.
Check out the video and weigh in with your thoughts in the comments below. [via One Perfect Shot]
