By Sean Boelman
Although most of the attention in awards season goes to awards like Best Picture and the performance categories, the Academy also gives out awards for achievement in short filmmaking in three categories: live-action, animation, and documentary.
Something unique about the Oscar-nominated short films is that ShortsTV screens them in theaters every year, giving cinephiles a rare opportunity to see these acclaimed shorts on the big screen. If you can only see one of the programs this year, we’d recommend the documentaries because they’re the most consistent grouping in terms of quality, but some of the animated shorts would create a wonderfully cinematic experience, too. We at disappointment media have watched all 15 of the Oscar-nominated shorts, and here are our rankings of the respective categories, along with our predictions of what will take home the statuette on Oscar night. Live Action
5. The After
Misan Harriman’s The After owes much of its high profile to its A-list leading man (and producer) David Oyelowo. He plays a grieving rideshare driver who is forced to confront his tragic past by an unexpected passenger. For what it’s worth, Oyelowo’s performance is strong, serving as the sole element of the film that is even moderately grounded. The film's opening scene is clearly intended to be shocking, but it ends up being laughable, and the second half crams an entire feature-length arc into 10 minutes. Frankly, the whole affair feels rushed and poorly thought out. It’s the weakest of the nominees by far. 4. Knight of Fortune The Danish drama-comedy Knight of Fortune is the type of short that feels like something was lost in translation. The film follows a man who, having to confront the loss of his beloved, finds unexpected friendship in the mortuary. Although the core story is unbelievably sympathetic, the short’s dry sense of humor is in that middle ground where it is too pronounced to ignore but not strong enough to be funny. The result is a tonally confused 25 minutes, where you can’t tell if you’re supposed to laugh or cry. Although the final few moments are pretty effective, much of the runtime is frustratingly circular. 3. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Is this the year that Wes Anderson will finally get his Oscar? If so, it’ll be terribly disappointing, not only because The Wonderful Henry Sugar is the weakest of the filmmaker’s output this year but because he will get the spotlight in one of the few categories at the Academy Awards that frequently honors up-and-coming filmmakers. This star-studded quirky tale, adapted from a story by Roald Dahl, is the very definition of hyperactive. It’s the longest but least satisfying of Anderson’s Dahl shorts. The performances and visuals are characteristically strong, but the film feels too monotonous to be entertaining. 2. Red, White and Blue This year’s crop of live-action shorts has far more celebrity stars than usual, as Red, White and Blue is driven by a very strong performance as a waitress struggling to save up for an interstate trip for an abortion. Nazrin Choudhury’s film is a classic example of the “it’s heart is in the right place” type of short film. In our current political landscape, voters will undeniably connect with and support this message. However, the film is derailed by a twist meant to elicit a visceral emotional reaction from the viewer — and, to an extent, it does — but it feels manipulative to the point of being in poor taste. 1. Invincible Thankfully, there is one really strong live-action short this year; unfortunately, it feels like the one most likely to go under the radar. The Canadian short Invincible tells the story of a teenage boy on a desperate quest for freedom from his unfortunate life. In a year where this category is filled with established actors, young Léokim Beaumier-Lépine might give the best turn in any of the films. With short films, it can be difficult to achieve subtlety, as filmmakers often feel the need to spoon-feed the audience due to the constricted runtime. Vincent René-Lortie lets his film breathe, allowing it to stand out. What Will Win: Red, White and Blue Potential Upset: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Animation
5. War Is Over!
War Is Over! It carries with it the distinction of being “inspired by the music of John and Yoko,” but in reality, it just features one of the most incredibly bad needle drops of “Happy Xmas” you have ever seen. Although the computer-animated WWI battlefield the filmmakers create is visually impressive, the narrative of two soldiers on opposite sides playing a game of chess before battle is — quite frankly — silly. It’s the type of animated short where you can all but see the filmmakers trying to tug at the viewers’ heartstrings, and the result feels cringe-worthy, even if it has good intentions. 4. Pachyderm There’s not really anything *wrong* with Pachyderm, per sé — it’s just that there’s not anything particularly interesting about it either. This French coming-of-age short follows a young girl holidaying with her grandparents. It’s a story you’ve seen dozens of times before with a competent art style, if not particularly innovative. Although some might be able to connect with the story better on an emotional level, it’s too simplistic and tropey to be moving. In simpler words, it’s safe. It’s the type of by-the-book debut that serves as the foundation for an animator’s much more illustrious career in features. 3. Letter to a Pig To give credit where it’s due, Letter to a Pig is an audacious film — thematically, narratively, and most of all formally. And while filmmaker Tal Kantor’s visual ambition often pays off, her swings tend to miss in the other two departments. The film shows a Holocaust survivor as he reads to a class a letter he had written to the pig that saved his life. However, this is less his story and more that of one of the students who goes through her own existential crisis upon hearing this tale. The narrative can sometimes be hard to follow, and even when it’s not, it feels frustratingly unfocused. 2. Our Uniform Yegane Moghaddam’s animated short Our Uniform would probably be excellent if it were only a touch longer. The film follows an Iranian girl who explores the mores of her strict Islamic community, and Moghaddam uses an innovative animation technique of fabric animation. From a standpoint of pure innovation, Our Uniform is unparalleled in this category. However, at a mere seven minutes long, it feels like the film is just starting to explore its themes and story when it ends. Still, of all of the filmmakers to come out of this year’s batch of fifteen shorts, Moghaddam is arguably the one who shows the most promise. 1. Ninety-Five Senses Although it’s always hard to root for the established filmmakers in these shorts categories, Jared and Jerusha Hess’s Ninety-Five Senses is on a different level from the other four animated shorts. The animation is creative and gorgeous, the story is compelling, and the voice performance by Tim Blake Nelson is incredible. There is a bit of emotional manipulation — the way the film asks for the audience’s pity is a bit questionable for reasons that can’t be explained without spoiling it — but there’s no denying how effective this is at what it sets out to do. What Will Win: Letter to a Pig Potential Upset: Ninety-Five Senses Documentary
5. The ABCs of Book Banning
The ABCs of Book Banning is probably the most frustrating of this year’s nominees, and it’s because it’s not a good film despite having all the elements it needs to be incredible on paper. The message of this short is undeniably incredibly vital, but the filmmakers go about conveying it in the entirely wrong way. For one, the visuals are amateurish, with the graphics and cinematography having the quality of a school project. It might be possible to get past that, though, if it weren’t for the fact that the runtime is spent interviewing the wrong people. Although the intentions of talking to the people affected the most — the kids — are noble, there’s one thing wrong with that… they’re kids. As a result, everything said feels unnatural, uninformed, rehearsed, or some combination thereof. 4. Island In Between S. Leo Chiang’s documentary Island In Between tells a story that few in the Western world are probably familiar with — the Taiwanese outer islands of Kinmen, which sit a mere two miles away from mainland China and have become the frontline for the tension between China and Taiwan. For such tiny islands, this is a tremendously big story, and therein lies the film’s flaw. At 20 minutes long, it feels like the short bites off more than it can chew thematically. Still, even if it cannot serve as a definitive exploration of this topic, Island In Between does work as a much-needed conversation starter. 3. Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó is a documentary short from filmmaker Sean Wang, whose feature debut Dídi recently debuted at the Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim. This is undoubtedly the most personal of the documentary shorts, telling the story of Wang’s two grandmothers. It’s endearing, heartwarming, and often funny, offering the type of wisdom you’d expect to hear from two elders such as these subjects. It’s the slightest of the documentaries this year in terms of subject matter, but seeing something less political and more wholesome in this category is refreshing. 2. The Barber of Little Rock The Barber of Little Rock manages to blend its uplifting story perfectly with timely themes, making it feel both thought-provoking and satisfying. The film tells the story of a barber who, seeing the effects of generational poverty on his community, decides to form a nonprofit community bank to help those in need who cannot get fair financial assistance. While this is, at its heart, a feel-good story about someone doing something good for his community, it is also eye-opening about one of the biggest problems we face in America today. 1. The Last Repair Shop The Last Repair Shop reunites previous Oscar nominees Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot (A Concerto Is a Conversation), and this film is even more incredible than their last. The film follows four craftspeople who work in an instrument repair shop servicing the students of Los Angeles County. It’s truly an astonishing film because of how it connects the challenges that these individuals faced in their own lives with the challenges the students live through and the music that unites them. It’s an incredibly rousing documentary that will leave few viewers uninspired; a crowd-pleaser that doesn’t feel pandering — something that is exceedingly rare to find. What Will Win: The ABCs of Book Banning Potential Upset: The Last Repair Shop
The 2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films open in theaters on February 16.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
The Snake HoleRetrospectives, opinion pieces, awards commentary, personal essays, and any other type of article that isn't a traditional review or interview. Archives
June 2024
Categories
All
|