Oscar-Nominated Short Films
Various directors.
By definition a mixed bag, this group of shorts is almost unfairly constituted. How can one compare a film about a victim of Chernobyl with Nick Park’s latest Wallis & Gromit? It can’t do justice to either to have them competing.
First, as a passionate Wallis & Gromit fan, I ran out to buy the DVD of A Matter of Loaf and Death the day it came out last year. I was first put off by the fact that it was only a half-hour or so long. What a grump. But, then, I just thought it was inferior work.
So, when I watched it this second time, I was happy to find it much funnier and more enjoyable. Not his best work, The Wrong Trousers stands as the pinnacle of W&G brilliance, it is certainly very good. The goofy Wallis and his brainy pooch Gromit are bakers, and local bakers are being offed by a serial killer. I will say no more, except that the film has Park’s trademark hysterical whiz-bang ending.
The animations in general are enjoyable, if slight. One, Logorama, is very clever, if never more than that. It is an LA cop-and-bad-guy chase, where every character and object is a corporate logo. And, it roars along at high speed.
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty is a retelling of the fairy tale by a cranky and mean old lady who terrifies her poor grandchild with the story. This actually needed to be longer, since it ends on an unsatisfying note.
Of the live action shorts, Kavi is a heart-breaking tale of a boy who works making brick for an evil boss in India. He is little more than a slave, as are his parents. Miracle Fish is a misbegotten idea using a school shooting as an exercise in irony. Eeew...
Instead of Abracadabra is a Swedish film of a boy-man who fancies himself a magician. It is quirky and slight. The Door is the aforementioned story involving a child victim of Chernobyl, and very well done, but deeply out of place in this group, as is Kavi. These need to be in separate categories from the others.
There are others, and they are okay. It’s a chance to see Oscar nominees that are not easy to find, and if you are a fan of the Academy Awards, why not?