Plane at a Funeral
So I saw Trainwreck with my... well now ex-girlfriend (we’d already broken up but had already agreed to see the movie, and honestly as a native Clevelander I was pretty to see LeBron James as a comedic foil in a romcom... eagerly awaiting Space Jam 2). I normally don’t pay much attention to sound design in a comedy, especially when it’s of the seemingly now dominant “Judd-Apatow-Two-Camera-Setup-Improvise-Everything” genre. For a good analysis of what I mean, this video from Every Frame a Painting explains it much better than I can:
TRAINWRECK SPOILERS AHEAD... if you really care.
Something sonically jumped out at me though during a gravely serious scene in the movie. Amy Schumer is giving a heart-warming, tear-inducing eulogy at her late father’s funeral. There’s no scoring, allowing Amy’s surprisingly sincere and powerful performance to shine. And that was when I noticed... a plane flying by in the background.
I wondered if the production, in order to allow Amy to stay in character and preserve a raw, emotional performance, opted to keep rolling instead of holding for the plane. Then I considered it may have been a deliberate decision. Either way, I thought it was a brilliant choice. I couldn’t think of another instance when the sound of a plane (without an onscreen visual reference) was heard in a movie; the presence of such an ordinary everyday sound added a sobering and realistic gravity to the scene in a film that is otherwise an absurd and caricature-like depiction of living and dating in New York City. A subtle yet poignant touch.