Oscar nominations are long on short surprises
By this down-to-the-wire time of the annual Oscars sweepstakes, we’ve just about exhausted any hope of surprises. Nominations have been announced and analyzed for the March 4 Academy Awards. Most of the likely winners have been identified, based on months of advance kudos by pundits and guilds.
Except for the short films, which catch off-guard even professional movie critics (ahem). They’re among the Oscar categories most likely to trip up prognosticating pooh-bahs, because there’s scant chance to see the nominees and many people complete their ballots with guesses.
The TIFF Bell Lightbox thus performs a public service by screening the Oscar shorts, beginning Friday, although only showing the nominees for animated and live-action mini-movies. (Let’s hope TIFF adds the neglected documentary shorts in years to come.)
The joy of watching these films is the range, topicality and risk-taking that often seem lacking in the feature-film categories. And shorts can offer a glimpse of future feature acclaim: current Best Picture nominee Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was written and directed by Martin McDonagh, who won the 2006 Best Live-Action Short Oscar for the black comedy Six Shooter.
You really can get caught by surprise with the Oscar shorts, which can suddenly turn from comedy to drama and vice-versa. They often zero in on social concerns such as racism, sexism or inhumanity with little chance of distraction.
What follows are my assessments of the nominees screening at the Lightbox, ranked in order of personal preference and with a rating out of four stars: ANIMATED SHORT:
Negative Space (Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, France, five minutes,
): Whimsical yet emotive stop-motion animation about a man who drew closer to his globe-trotting father via the shared art of packing a suitcase: “Some guys bond with their dad shooting hoops or talking about Chevrolets. We did it over luggage.” A blend of real memories and surreal moments, warmed by a cello-rich score and a perfect surprise ending.
Garden Party (Various directors, France, seven minutes, ): Frogs and geckos have one heck of a good night at a fancy mansion and swimming pool that are curiously devoid of humans. By the time a big bullfrog gobbles a dish of caviar, you’ll likely clock to what is going on in this nearly photorealistic amphibian circus. But the big reveal will grab you just the same.
LOU( Dave Mullins, U.S., seven minutes, ): A playground bully gets his comeuppance when lost articles develop a life and an attitude. Disney/Pixar animator Dave Mullins ( Ratatouille, Inside Out) seems influenced by Sesame Street with this offbeat lesson in good citizenship, which is genuinely touching despite being a tad cloying. Definitely a contender in the category, given the brand recognition.
Revolting Rhymes ( Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, U.K., 29 minutes,
1/2 ): Previous Oscar nominees Schuh ( The Gruffalo) and Lachauer ( Room on a Broom) take on the grim fairy tales of Roald Dahl in a story that only seems child-friendly. Brit stars — Rob Brydon, Tamsin Greig and Gemma Chan among them — radically rhyme such familiar characters as Snow White, Red Riding Hood and the Big, Bad Wolf.
Dear Basketball (U.S., Glen Keane, five minutes, ): L.A. Lakers icon Kobe Bryant teams with Disney animator Glen Keane and composer John Williams for a selfserving salute to Bryant’s love of basketball: “A love so deep, I gave you my all.” Pen-and-ink animation skilfully enlivens the b-ball reveries. But no mention is made of Bryant’s notoriety for the accusation of sexual assault, never proven in court, made by a hotel worker in 2003. LIVE-ACTION SHORT:
á Watu Wote (All of Us) (Katja Benrath, Germany/Kenya, 22 minutes, ): Donald Trump needs to watch this true-life thriller to get a clue how prejudice and stereotypes can blind people to common goodness. Based on a 2015 incident, when a Christian woman named Jua (Adelyne Wairimu) was on a bus filled primarily with Muslims on a hazardous journey from Nairobi north to Mandera County, on the border with Somalia. Al- Shabaab terrorists attack; a lesson unfolds about the anger we hold and the false assumptions we make.
My Nephew Emmett (Kevin Wilson Jr., U.S., 20 minutes,
): It may seem as if there’s nothing left to say about the 1955 racially motivated murder of 14year-old Emmett Till, whose brutal martyrdom in Mississippi shocked the world and galvanized the civilrights movement. Filmmaker Wilson artfully begs to differ, directing us to view the crime through the eyes of Till’s uncle Mose Wright (L.B. Williams), in this short yet searing chronicle of a tragedy that must never be forgotten.
DeKalb Elementary (Reed Van Dyk, U.S., 20 minutes, ): “We all go through something in life, OK?” A frantic school shooter ( Eastbound & Down’s Bo Mitchell) meets the calm presence of front-office receptionist Cassandra (Tarra Riggs). Based on actual events, as documented by a 911 call.
The Silent Child (Chris Overton, U.K., 20 minutes, ): As much an impeccably lensed PSA as a minidrama, this calls attention to the fact that hearing impairment is a normal thing, not a rare abnormality. Writer/actress Rachel Shenton plays a teacher striving to assist a young girl named Libby (Maisie Sly), whose parents refuse to properly address her needs.
The Eleven O’Clock (Derin Seale, Australia, 13 minutes, 1/2 ): The only straight comedy in the live-action lineup is a cockeyed affair, as two men argue over which one of them is a psychiatrist and which is a delusional impostor. The fact you can figure out early what’s going on is no impediment to this smartly realized comic conceit. Peter Howell is the Star’s movie critic. His column usually runs Fridays.