2018 Oscar Nominated Short Films
2018 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS The Screen; animation: 3 chiles, live action: 3.5 chiles
One shouldn’t use the short-film portion of the Oscar telecast to take a break, as it highlights some of the best filmmaking of the evening. Seeing the films beforehand also might be the edge you need to win your Oscar pool.
The Animated Shorts are notable this year in that all five films are family friendly; the only borderline moment is a few seconds of jarring footage in Garden
Party. For scorekeepers, that film — despite its beautiful imagery of frogs and toads in an abandoned mansion — and Dear Basketball’s hand-drawn ode to Kobe Bryant can both be written off immediately (unless there are an overwhelming amount of Lakers fans in the Academy, which isn’t impossible).
The real contenders are the three other films. Pixar’s Lou, a story of a lost-and-found box come to life, is bizarre, inventive, and among the best of Pixar’s estimable short films (it preceded Cars 3 in theaters last summer). Given the number of people in the Academy that Pixar and its parent company Disney employs, it should get many votes. Revolting
Rhymes, based on author Roald Dahl’s offbeat take on fairy tales, gets points for its length, artistry, and known celebrities offering voice work (including Rob Brydon and Dominic West), despite feeling like well-worn territory. The best of the bunch is Negative
Space, a clever short from France, which plumbs depths beyond its six-minute running time. Each one of these would be a worthy winner.
In the live-action set, extraordinary filmmaking abounds. The frontrunner surely must be Watu Wote/
All of Us, a gripping tale of a young woman caught in the conflict between Muslims and Christians in Kenya. The others, however, have an array of charms. The powerfully empathetic DeKalb
Elementary tackles the subjects of school shootings and mental illness as an administrative worker and elementary school staff must talk a potential shooter out of committing the deed. My Nephew Emmett (based on the true story of Emmett Till) uses sharp direction and exquisite music to tell the story of an African American man in 1950s Mississippi who must shield his nephew from local townspeople after he whistles at a white woman. There can be no accusations of #OscarsSoWhite in this portion of the shorts program. These heavy themes are lightened by The Eleven
O’Clock, a clever bit of British comedy in which a psychiatrist treats a patient whose affliction is that he thinks he is a psychiatrist treating a patient. It’s short, snappy, and quite witty, although it seems unlikely to win. However, only The Silent Child falters — it’s a handsomely shot story about a young girl with hearing problems that comes off too much like a public-service announcement for classroom sign-language accessibility. The rest are excellent, adding a thrilling component to the question of which one will take home the gold. — Robert Ker