AS A HABIT, a movie watcher doesn’t care much, one presumes, about the tech men off-screen like music scorer, cinematographer, soundman, production designer, make-up artist, screenwriter, editor or to a certain extent, director (although it is an important or conspicuous overall creator of what one sees onscreen).
It’s high time that as a moviegoer, one has to give credit to the other men and women behind a tentpole not only as the credits roll up after the resolution.
Who wouldn’t take notice of a film editor—one who strings together scenes to make sense of the narrative—like Alex Rodriguez before your eyes?
Alex Rodriguez who?
Let’s see what this magician has done to our audio-visual experiences.
Our regular IMDb says that Alex is the one responsible for the highly commendable and award-winning films such as “Y tu mama tambien” (2001) “Children of Men” (2006), “Mosul” (2019), “Extraction 2” (2023) among other noted creations.
Of course, “Y tu mama tambien” and “Children of Men” are directed by the famed Mexican artist Alfonso Cuaron whose other notable works include “Great Expectations” (1998), “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004), “Gravity” (2013), “Roma” (2018).
“Children of Men” was officially nominated at the 79th Academy Awards for Best Editing.
“Extraction 2” (a Chris Hemsworth-starrer and directed by Sam Hargrave), might not be singly awarded in major award-giving bodies but it is one of Netflix’s most viewed movies.
Yes, Alex was our mentor at the recently concluded FEST Film Lab workshop project on editing held at Seda Hotel in Paranaque City jointly organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) through its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jose Javier Reyes, popularly known as the Filipino filmmaker Joey Reyes and FEST Film Coordinator Filipe Pereira, a Portuguese film artist.
During his first day of lecture, Alex Rodriguez, a French-Mexican, showed us one of his editing works as a beginner.
It is titled “Todo el Poder” (2000), a Mexican comedy and drama film within a film about a filmmaker’s exploits on criminals in Mexico City directed by Fernando Sarinana.
It’s such an interesting movie that has touches of doc elements like interviews but creatively conjured up as a feature.
The opening sequence shows aerial shots of the urban setting.
As a viewer, I thought the shots were drone captured but Alex in his explanation said that the tracking was done in a helicopter ride.
It dawned on me, anyway, that at the time a drone was still a luxury unlike these days when the gadget is easily available in shoots.
According to Alex, as an editor, he is also around during the filming of any of his films to see what the director would like to execute in each scene that could add to his editing idea.
Most of the time, though, he is free to explore and creatively perform his task to add dimension to a film.
In the case of the aerial footage in “Todo el Poder,” I asked Alex if that was his idea.
“No, it was the director’s,” he replied.
He, as well, is provided with a working script to run through and guide him.
“Yes, the director and I talk a lot,” Rodriguez said.
The constant communication between the captain of the ship and the crew (read: editor) is very crucial to enhance the film project.
From his inventive and imaginative mind, Alex is known for his precise, fast-paced, tension-inducing and cutting-edge editing chops we recently saw in “Extraction 2.”
In my future stories online and offline, I will discuss the secrets in Alex Rodriguez’s success in his craft.