Christopher Nolan’s film “Tenet” has had a successful opening weekend. However, there is still much debate behind the sound-mixing of Nolan’s films and “Tenet” doesn’t appear to be any different. In a recent article with Indiwire, Zack Sharf explores the sound mixing of Nolan’s films and the reasoning behind it.
Many people often complain that important dialogue often gets buried behind an explosive soundtrack. Its definitely true that The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, and Dunkirk all had epic sound mixing behind them. Many people have stated in their Tenet reviews that the sound design was almost deafening and too distracting.
Nolan has made it very clear that he believes dialogue is not the only way to gain clarity of a emotions in a film. In response to critic against the soundtrack in Interstellar Nolan stated, “Clarity of story, clarity of emotions- I try to achieve that in a very layered way using all the different things at my disposal- picture and sound. I’ve always loved films that approach sound in an impressionistic way and that is an usual approach for a mainstream blockbuster, but I feel it’s the right approach for this experiential film.”
Despite any personal opinions on Nolan’s sound mixing, one can’t argue that he creates a visual experience unlike any other blockbuster films. There is clearly intention behind the specific sound mixing that he includes in his film, and that’s the way Nolan wants them to sound.
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