Welcome to the 2021 SiftPop.com Sifties!
This year, the SiftPop writers came together to nominate five movies for Best Audio Experience. Since the two major pieces that work together to create a complete cinematic experience are a film’s visuals and audio, we thought it would be important to highlight those as one of our four Siftie awards.
2021 was a great year for sound at the movies. Between a whole slew of great musicals, action blockbusters that mixed sound effects, dialogue, and music, incredible scores, and films whose audio experience relied heavily on the lack of sound, there was a wide variety to appreciate. The SiftPop crew nominated five films for Best Audio Experience: tick, tick… BOOM!, Bo Burnham: Inside, Dune, A Quiet Place Part II, and West Side Story. Here’s how the voting played out:
8.7% of votes
A sequel to 2018’s A Quiet Place, A Quiet Place Part II took what its predecessor did well and did it even better. With one of the main characters being a young deaf girl named Regan (Millicent Simmonds), returning director John Krasinski moves in and out of her perspective, making some scenes completely devoid of sound. And of course, the reason everything in this movie is so quiet in the first place is because the monsters chasing our protagonists have heightened hearing, so the slightest noise can tip them off to where you are. This is a great example of restraint in filmmaking — the lack of sound in so many scenes is more effective than loud explosions or music ever could be.
13% of votes
All I have to say are the names Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim for you to understand what makes the music in West Side Story so great. There’s a reason that it was a popular play when it debuted in 1957 and then as a film in 1961. The music of this play/film has always been incredible, and it still is here in Steven Spielberg’s updated version 60 years later. There are the songs that everyone knows and loves like “Tonight” and “America,” but every song is exceptionally done. But it’s more than just the music that works for this movie, because it’s mixed with busy New York streets or gang fights, and it’s all done perfectly. You wouldn’t expect anything less from a master like Spielberg himself.
13% of votes
tick, tick… BOOM! Is based of the original musical by Jonathan Larson, the writer of Rent, and is directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Hamilton, so it’s no surprise at all that the film sounds incredible. There’s a mix of rock ballads like “30/90” or “Louder Than Words,” slow piano ballads like “Come to Your Senses” and “Why,” and fun a cappella performances like “Boho Days” that shows just how diverse Larson was in his music writing abilities. Andrew Garfield sings on film for the first time, and is a revelation with his ability to sing, dance, and of course act. Like West Side Story, the film is sonically sound in areas other than its music, taking it above and beyond in its merit.
26.1% of votes
Hans Zimmer has composed the music for so many great movies over the years, including Gladiator, The Lion King, True Romance, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and most of Christopher Nolan’s movies, but there’s a true possibility that he’s never written a better score than Dune. This score is special in its ability to perfectly fit the desert planet setting with tribal sounding vocalization and instrument choice, be grand when it needs to be, and be intimate when fitting. And through all this, it never loses that distinct Hans Zimmer sound that he’s crafted over 40 years in the industry. Dune’s score is obviously its main audio draw, but the sound design for whole new planets, vehicles, tools, and weapons makes it stand out among just about every other major blockbuster in the last 20 years.
39.1% of votes
If you’d seen any of Bo Burnham’s standup specials prior to Inside, then you probably knew about his songwriting skill. But with Inside, he took his musical abilities and his social awareness and married the two for what we here at SiftPop think is the best audio experience of the year. Each song serves a specific purpose musically and lyrically that elevates this film to a now-important cultural text. While each specific song has something about it that will make it an ear worm that’s difficult to shake, the lyrics will get you thinking and talking. Burnham put so much of himself into this, but the lyrics and music also reflect so many of the current anxieties that we’re all facing, giving this the Siftie for Best Audio Experience.
Be sure to check back tomorrow to find out the winner of Best Visual Experience!