Last night the Motion Picture Sound Editors blew off one of the most striking and audacious sound mixes in motion picture history when they decided against giving any kind of trophy to Sound of Metal during the 68th Golden Reel Awards.

They handed out awards to Greyhound (FX/Foley), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (dialogue/ADR), Tenet (musical underscore), Soul (animated feature) and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of the Fire Saga (music).

The aural design in Sound of Metal (the Oscar nominees are Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Philip Bladh, Carlos Cortés and Michelle Couttolenc) isn’t just great — it’s historic. The ’21 BAFTAs, at least, recently recognized this.

Greyhound, Soul, Mank, News of the World and Sound of Metal are nominated for the Best Sound Oscar — a new compressed category combining sound editing and sound mixing. If the Academy blows off Sound of Metal there’ll be trouble. I’m not threatening, just saying.

These five are also nominated for Cinema Audio Society Awards for sound mixing, which will be handed out tonight.