“Rachel Getting Married”, starring Anne Hathaway, surprised me by having one of the most incredible sound mixes I have ever heard. Generally, I would think a film like Avatar would have a better mix, but “Rachel” kicks its butt. Why? Because it is way more difficult to mix this type of quasi cinema verite realism.
The sound mix more than complimented the hand-held loose camera style. In fact, I listened to this film in Sony headphones and it was incredible. The mix brought me into the whole world of the wedding and it actually felt like I was in the movie at the wedding! Sometimes I would feel like a car was pulling up in my own driveway and I literally paused the movie, got up and went to check my driveway to see if someone had pulled up. The mix was that immersive. There were dozens of layers to the mix and it was brilliantly balanced by Jeff Pullman.
The thing is, this mix is so superior because it literally makes you forget you are watching a movie. By contrast, some of the big Michael Bay type movies sound really bad ass but they just make you think you are listening to a bunch of designed sounds that don’t have any base in reality. “Rachel” , on the other hand, was real delight to hear. I never once strained to hear the dialogue, but there was music and crowds over the whole movie and it all seemed perfectly blended.
I liked this mix so much that I am now going to be posting a new section on this blog called “Technical Movie Reviews”
If you want to hear a perfect mix, a ten on the scale, then this is the benchmark. Get yourself some headphones and a beer and go to the wedding. Oh, it didn’t hurt that the acting was off the charts amazing.