“What makes a movie a movie is the editing,” says Zach Staenberg in the documentary “The Cutting Edge.”
Admittedly, Staenberg is an editor, most famously of the “Matrix” movies, but he’s not wrong. Editing can create emotion, speed up or slow the pace, explore the psychology of a character or find meaning that even the actors and writers didn’t know was there. Along with the director, an editor decides what we look at and for how long.
You’ll find examples in the clip-filled and entertaining “The Cutting Edge,” which examines the art of editing and which you can watch for free on YouTube.
The job is one of the most misunderstood in Hollywood. Even Oscar voters get it wrong. They generally throw up their hands and award the editing statue to the best picture winner, unless there’s a flashier option (“Whiplash,” cut to the rhythms of jazz, or “All That Jazz,” where almost-subliminal cuts plunge us into the mind of its out-of-control protagonist) or a movie with cars banging into each other (“The French Connection,” “Grand Prix” and “Bullitt” all won for their editing).