With the Academy Award nominations in hand — and predictions and second-guessing increasing by the day — it’s time for one of my favorite traditions: checking out the live-action and animated short subjects.
As always, this year’s nominees range between the good, the bad and the baffling. I’ve long been puzzled by the wildly divergent tastes of those who select these nominees; it’s intriguing that the folks who pick the obviously excellent stand-outs also (apparently) find something to admire in entries I wouldn’t consider for a second.
But as my father often said, That’s why we have horse races: divergent candidates for every taste.
This droll tale stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character, a bored and self-centered aristocrat who, as a result of a book he steals, painstakingly develops the talent to see through objects. What he ultimately does with this gift proves unexpected.
Dahl, played by Ralph Fiennes, narrates much of this saga — “Henry Sugar” actually is three stories nested within each other — although Dev Patel’s Dr. Chatterjee occasionally takes over. The staging throughout is theatrical and exaggerated, with backdrops sliding back and forth, sometimes manipulated by visible tech hands. Occasional scenes rely upon vintage rear projection. The result is bravura filmmaking, and totally cool.
Except that things aren’t quite what they seem. Noer’s little story takes an oddly quirky turn — the tone and atmosphere uniquely Scandinavian — en route to a sweet conclusion.
The same cannot be said of Nigerian-born writer/director Misan Harriman’s “The After,” which stars David Oyelowo as a London ride-share driver whose world crumbled after he survived a senselessly random street attack (a sequence that viewers will find difficult to watch). Oyelowo is the film’s strongest asset; he’s a terrific actor, and his portrayal of this man’s anguish is shattering.
But Harriman’s story doesn’t resolve; it simply stops ... leaving us with What The Heck? frustration.
Canadian writer/director Vincent René-Lortie fares better with “Invincible,” a dramatized tribute to an emotionally troubled childhood friend who took his life at age 14. Léokim Beaumier Lépine stars as Marc, abandoned to institutions by a family unable to cope with his anger issues and mental illness.
Lépine’s performance is heartbreaking. The story begins as a brief visit with family concludes, and the frustrated Marc is forced to return to his incarceration cell. Overwhelmed by rage and disappointment, he recklessly seizes an opportunity that we viewers know cannot end well.
Rachel (Brittany Snow), a single mother with two children, works as a diner waitress. The story begins as, with dismay, she contemplates the unwanted results of a pregnancy test. Snow’s performance is sublime; even before we see her family’s home environment, we know they barely survive, paycheck to paycheck. Another mouth to feed? Impossible.
But Rachel lives in Arkansas, where abortion isn’t an option. The long drive to Illinois will be an arduous budget-buster, along with the need to park one or both of her children with friendly neighbors. Rachel is able to find child care for young son Jake, but is forced to bring daughter Maddy (Juliet Donenfeld) along for the ride.
Rachel’s attempt to turn this into a “fun” mother/daughter road trip builds to an unexpected conclusion that’ll knock viewers out of their chairs.
Choudhury’s film is, by far, my choice for this category’s Oscar.
The animated nominees, alas, are wildly uneven.
French director Stéphanie Clément’s “Pachyderme” unfolds as a memoir by an adult Louise (narrator Christa Théret), who looks back on the childhood summers she spent with her grandparents in their country home. Writer Marc Rius’ story initially feels like a young girl’s paradise, laden with fishing alongside her grandfather, lake swims, walking barefoot in green grass, and savoring her grandmother’s strawberry pies.
But all is not as it seems, and it soon becomes clear that Louise’s night terrors — her fear of the elephant tusk displayed in an upstairs hallway, and her desire to disappear into her bedroom’s wallpaper — are more than a little girl’s imagination. Unfortunately, the story’s impact is diluted by an unusual “painterly” animation style, and the flat manner in which young Louise is rendered makes her oddly unappealing.
“Ninety-Five Senses,” from the longtime filmmaking team of Jerusha and Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite” and “Nacho Libre, among others), concerns the final hours of Coy, a condemned prisoner who muses about his fate. Tim Blake Nelson’s hillbilly-esque drawl is amusing, as Coy wonders if losing his five senses to death will — at the last moment — kick in the other 95 senses supposedly dormant within human beings.
But the animation is bland and unappealing; it’s ironic that a film with this title does such a poor job of depicting this man’s senses.
Israeli writer/director Tal Kantor’s “Letter to a Pig” is even uglier: hand-drawn animation overlaid with video elements, varying from minimalist black-and-white to garishly pink verisimilitude. The story begins reasonably well, as bored schoolchildren listen to a Holocaust survivor recount how a pig — an animal traditionally regarded as “unclean” by Jews — saved him from Nazis during World War II.
But Kantor’s approach turns bizarrely surrealistic midway through this 17-minute saga, as (the production notes claim) one young girl “sinks into a twisted dream where she confronts questions of identity, collective trauma, and the extremes of human nature.”
Seriously?
If Kantor genuinely intended such gravitas, she missed it completely. Her film’s second half is simply weird and impenetrable.
Happily, the final two entries are vastly superior.
The girl loves to travel, because it allows her to see people of different colors, patterns and textures.
“I grew up in Tehran, went to school, and became a FEMALE. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Maybe I’d be something else, had I lived somewhere else.”
Her Farsi narration (English subtitles provided) is calm and matter-of-fact, which matches Moghaddam’s tone. There is no judgment or anger ... although the girl’s resignation is blindingly obvious. The overall effect is quietly chilling.
On a side note, this is the category’s first-ever Iranian entry.
A carrier pigeon, ostensibly tasked to ferry battle movement messages between the (apparently) Allied colonel and his men, is co-opted to move chess moves between two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict. Neither soldier knows his opponent, and the pigeon bravely dodges bursts of flak while flying back and forth over No Man’s Land.
As the game progresses, the respective players are cheered on by a rapidly rising number of fellow soldiers, who eagerly await the outcome. And then...
...but that would be telling (although the story is loosely inspired by an historic miracle).
Both “Our Uniform” and “War Is Over” benefit from strong real-world topicality, and I’m hard-pressed to choose between them. You’ll not soon forget either.
Both sets of films, along with a third category devoted to short documentaries, can be viewed via road-show packages at theaters across the country; visit shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/ to find out where.
I think you missed the boat on The After. My companion and I both experienced the final scene as a transformation through what functioned as contact from his five-years-dead daughter (the hug from the girl Amy) and led the character out of his haze of grief at last, to a place where he was going to be okay. For me it was masterfully subtle and still clear. Also, the character is only a ride share driver in his grief- stripped life. He starts the film as some kind of executive or manager, but loses that job and community in the period of devastation following the deaths. I would put my Oscar money on this one. Red, White and Blue’s plot twist is unforgettable and stunning, but the music montage is twice as long as it needs to be.
ReplyDeleteDidn't miss that particular boat. I got the intended point behind the final scene; I simply wasn't persuaded. As I mentioned at the top ... horse races...
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