By: Henry J. Fromage –
This is where I declare a theme for this year’s short films, and arguably there is a clear one that essentially runs through all of these- the importance of human connection and the institutions and human tragedies that break us apart. All told it’s a more hopeful slate than in year’s past, but a no less harrowing one in many cases.
The Oscar Nominated Short Films: Animated
Burrow
This cute little forest animal-populated short comes from the same SparkShorts Pixar spin-off that produced last year’s nominee (and my favorite of that lot) Kitbull. It’s a simple story of a bunny who just wants his own private burrow, and finds that the underground is a lot busier with life than he accounted for- a sweet, parable of the importance of community with a Miyazaki-inspired in look. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for every home our bunny protagonist accidentally enters
Genius Loci
The appears to be the major arthouse pick of the bunch, a dazzling array of animation styles and inventive example of what the form can do when not weighed down by convention. The fact that it’s only minimally weighed down by any kind of story as well will put some off, but I think the “one night a young woman wanders through urban chaos” pitch is enough to hang this degree of originality on. My favorite of the animated shorts, but perhaps too avant garde to win. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: every time sound is represented visually
If Anything Happens I Love You
This Netflix short was 1 of 2 that I’d seen already. I called it the stuff a winner is made of back in December, and the mix of evocative animation and heart-tugging subject matter (something has happened, and when you realize what, it’s as devastating as it intends to be) hits as hard as it did the first time. Against the rest of this field, I think it’s still the favorite. A Toast.
Take a Drink: every time a shadow indicates something is missing from this picture
Opera
Well, okay, this may be the arthouse pick of the litter actually- a mind-melting moving diorama of faceless humans working, worshipping, playing, living in a hollowed out, compartmentalized mountain city that’s also a intricate hierarchy until war wipes out the lowest tier, the clock starts again, and society starts anew. Not an hard to follow metaphor by any means, but the extreme detail begs for a rewatch. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for each act of violence you see
Yes-People
This Icelandic short is the comic pick of the litter, and taken as a part of the whole of the slate it’s a welcome change of pace. I believe it’s titled as it is because all anyone says is ‘Yes’ in Icelandic as they go about their daily lives with sometimes blue yet cleverly cut humor. Got to have one of these in every class, and it’s one of the more successful at actually drawing laughs in recent memory. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: whenever something crass (but undeniably funny) occurs.
The Oscar Nominated Short Films: Animated Commendations (Close but No Cigars)
Kapaemahu
This Hawaiian short was blowing up our publicity emails for months, so I’m a bit surprised to see it not make the final five. The fact that it’s in the native Hawaiian language Olelo Nihau and tells a foundational myth (about Waikiki’s healing stones) with an appropriately mythic hand-painted style makes it an impressively delivered short despite the miss. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for each change in time period
The Snail and the Whale
Another year, another commendation to a short with ‘and the Whale‘ in the title. After last year’s kinda depressing The Bird and the Whale, this one is a colorful, slickly animated children’s book adaptation with a starry British voice cast (hearing Diana Rigg’s legendary pipes narrating one last time was a welcome surprise). Three Beers.
Take a Drink: whenever either the snail or the whale are in peril
To Gerard
This one feels like the animators have been watching their Pixar, a slickly animated, mostly silently told story of a mailhandler with magician aspirations who passes the ‘magic coin’ given to him in his youth by the magician he idolized to a young girl who gets lost in the mailroom, only to have that kindness repaid in a predictable yet unavoidably heartwarming manner. Three Beers.
Take a Drink: for each magic act
The Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action
Feeling Through
This short about a late night encounter between a young man who clearly doesn’t have a home to go back to and a deaf and blind man who he first assists to the bus stop and then continues to help is a heartwarmer, well-acted and shot, if a bit conventionally told and pat. It’s impossible to dislike, though, which may well make it the front-runner. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: every time Tereek assists Artie further
The Letter Room
This is the other contender I’d already seen, and one with uncharacteristic star power in Oscar Isaac and Alia Shawkat (although in my years covering this junket, I don’t remember the short with the recognizable star winning). This is another one that plays to Hollywood convention a bit, but tells a story of human connection (now between a prison guard and the death row inmates he screens letters for) that’s hard to dislike, but doesn’t blow minds, either. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for every new letter
The Present
This year’s live action short film slate really concerns two countries, the U.S. and Israel/Palestine, and arguably two topics, or even one- the relations between different cultures and ethnicities. This one is about a Palestinian and his daughter who are detained at a “border” crossing into Israel in a microcosm of the shame that people like them are subjected to every day. It’s powerfully done and a perfectly succinct story- perfect short material. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for every small indignity
Two Distant Strangers
There’s at least three reductive ways to describe this short that you experience while watching it, but hold on, it’s taking you for a ride that you’ll want to see the end of (and will only understand once you have- perhaps one hint: Jordan Peele may well have produced this). The acting and filmmaking are superb as well- my favorite of the bunch. A Toast.
Take a Drink: for each reset (which will come fast and furious- careful)
White Eye
This is the other Israeli short in competition- about a young man who believe he’s found his stolen bike chained up on the street, and gets into a dispute with the immigrant worker who says he bought it at the bus station. When the police get involved, nobody ends up with what they want or what they deserve- another well presented self-contained story with a moral stinger. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: every time 250 shekels are mentioned
The Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary
Colette
This documentary short focuses on Colette Marin-Catherine, a French Resistance fighter who alongside a young historian visits the German concentration camp where her brother Jean-Pierre died. It’s an unapologetically knotty film- Colette gives exactly zero shits about the mayor of the nearby German town’s dinner speech of contrition, for example, but that’s what makes it so interestingly (and at times heartbreakingly) human. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: in honor of Jean-Pierre’s memory each time he’s mentioned.
A Concerto is a Conversation
The shortest of the nominees, this short is about Kris Bowers, a young Black composer, in conversation with his incredibly impressive in his own way grandfather. It’s just a beautiful tale of a couple of beautiful people who have achieved quite a bit in life and have much to share with each other and the world. My favorite of the group, but I’m afraid not politically of the moment enough to win. A Toast.
Take a Drink: every time a visual parallel is made between Kris’s grandfather’s past journey and Kris’s present one.
Do Not Split
Shot at the height of the Hong Kong riots that came to a head in late 2019/early 2020, this is very much a street level view of the indiscriminate measures taken by police against protestors and uninvolved citizenry, and the escalation of protestor activities in response. This is what happens when an autocratic society encroaches on a democratic one- and as 2046 and complete Chinese of control of Hong Kong inches closer, it’s hard to see how it won’t only get worse. Two Beers.
Take a Drink: for every new date title card
Hunger Ward
This year, the obligatory chronicle of Middle Eastern conflict and despair addresses the plight of Yemen instead of Syria- a conflict that’s more of a U.S. (arms- although Biden has reversed Trump’s stance and put an end to these sales) and Saudi Arabia (the murderers wielding them) abetted massacre of Iran-supported Houthi rebels who’d already largely successfully overthrown the previous government. This film isn’t about that, though, but rather a pediatric malnutrition unit and the doctor who leads it. The war has scene a horrific famine arise in Yemen and the types of pictures and coverage that haven’t been seen since the Ethiopian famine of the 90s. An awful, difficult watch that does not spare you from the tragedy at all, but maybe one that will inspire some change. Two Beers.
Just… drink.
A Love Song for Latasha
This film is about the killing of young girl Latasha Harlins by a convenience store owner that was one of the principal precipitants of the 1992 LA Riots, told by her cousin and best friend. Really, it’s more the story of the life of a bright young girl insensibly snuffed out, and director Sophia Nahli Allison rightly foreground that and imagery of normal young girls living the life she was denied. The artsiest of the picks, but supportably so. Two Beers.
Just… drink, part two.
