In the 80's I watched a Hollywood how-it's-done film called "Scream Greats." It was the how-tos of horror. They showed many of the tricks for the blood, guts, and gore that I was sneaking to watch.
"Cutting Edge," I would say, is the partner to that film. To this point I had no idea what a film editor was. If I was given a hundred guesses I probably wouldn't have gotten it right. They are the people who piece the movie together from the thousands of frames of film. They have to cut, splice, intersplice, and more. Regardless of what order the movie is shot in, the editors can put it together to give the viewer the impression that it was one seamless and chronologically cohesive movie. If a movie incongruously jumps from one scene to the next, that's the editor. If a movie has seamless transitions from one scene to the next, that's the editor. "Cutting Edge" was some really fun and eye-opening stuff to watch.
"Cutting Edge" gives a history of the film editor, some of the most influential film editors, and the methodology of some current film editors. These hidden heroes are essential to the movie making process--probably as important as anybody--yet so unheralded. If "Cutting Edge" does anything it gives them at least a little bit of just due.
