The
hype surrounding the Oscars is definitely more about pop culture than
filmmaking itself. However, the short film categories, which have been a part
of Oscar history since 1932, are becoming more prominent. While the nominees
generally go unnoticed to the general public, the shorts are finally getting some
airtime in larger cities. Vancouver's Vancity Theatre, for instance, will be
previewing the short films in the Animation and Live Action categories on Feb.
20 and 22.
The
Oscars are certainly well-known for their star-studded audience, which sees the
same faces on the red carpet year after year. The short film categories are
more varied, however, and offer some recognition to the non-celebrity filmmaker
circuit. Because these films have much less time with their audience than
feature length equivalents, their jobs are that much harder in connecting their
story to the viewer, but when done successfully, a short film is a great medium
in storytelling. Here is an overview of the three categories’ nominees for
2012.
LIVE
ACTION
The
offerings in this category almost seem to outdo the Feature Film category this
year in terms of gripping content. The interesting factor here is that the
films have such a minute amount of time to hook their audience while discussing
sincere issues.
Perhaps
the most exhilarating is Raju, a German nominee about a German couple who adopt,
and subsequently lose track of, an adopted orphan from India.
The
longest of the live action shorts, Ireland's The Shore, runs just 30 minutes and
sees a daughter reunite her father and his long-lost best friend who he hasn't
seen for 25 years.
Running
on similar themes, Tuba Atlantic, a Norwegian film, delves into nostalgia via a 70-year-old
man told he has a week to live and wants to contact his overseas brother to
iron out their relationship.
America's
Time Freak attempts
at forging humour and science fiction into a tale of time travel where one man
tries to undo all of his "stupid little mistakes" with mixed results.
In terms of personal coming-of-age films, it appears Ireland's Pentecost has done it a bit more legitimately, through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy put in a personal crossroads between his own endeavors and becoming an Altar boy.
ANIMATION
In
the UK's A Morning Stroll, the computer animation used shows a young New Yorker busily playing
on his phone, ignoring a chicken hopping about at the next door apartment's
stoop.
America's
La Luna,
produced by Pixar's John Lasseter, is a slick-looking adventure that has all the
markings of the Disney/Pixar combinations: thoughtful character animation,
sharp landscapes, and childlike innocence, all revolving around a child taken
out to sea on his first day of work in his family’s fishing business.
Canada's
Dimanche/Sunday explores
simple themes of repetition and redundancy viewed in a routine train stop
through a town used to its frequency, and the mundane reactions which go on to
become rhythmic and musical.
Another
Canadian entry, Wild Life, showcases an English businessman who moves to the Frontier in
the early 1900s, where his discomforts in doing so are shown through a series
of letters he sends home.
The
Fantastic Flying Books of Mister Morris Lessmore, the category's longest
entry at 17 minutes, seems to be the edgiest in the category in its uses of
computer, 2D, and stop-motion combinations.
The
Academy has certainly carved out a visually interesting blend of films here,
mixing up Wild Life’s
watercolour-looking scenes with the Pixar standard of computer animation in La
Luna.
Whereas Pixar films generally seem to scoop up the Full Length Animated Film
category at the awards, their shorts never seem to make the Academy's mark –
despite nominees almost every year in the past few decades, they haven't seen a
win in this category for nearly a decade. For American nominees, Flying
Books seems
like the best shot, while the National Film Board of Canada's two entries offer
polarizing competition with more understated, classical animation.
DOCUMENTARY
A
short documentary has the advantage that their subjects are just as gripping,
but they do not need to fill excess time with plodding, unnecessary material,
as often seems to be the case in full-length documentary films. The selection
in this category is interesting in that it is the most varied: all of the films
have very different subject matter.
God
is the Bigger Elvis tells
the tale of Dolores Hart, a former promising film actress who went from
co-starring roles with the likes of Elvis Presley to becoming a nun. The short
captures Hart's first-hand tale of the road she chose.
The
Iraq War is represented here with Incident in New Baghdad, a 22-minute epic in which
the slaying of two journalists is explored.
In
the equally horrific Saving Face, a Pakistan/USA release, the directors unfold a
horrifying social issue in which many Pakistani women are attacked with acid, sometimes
by their own husbands. The film does add a bit of light to the dark, in which
they spotlight a doctor who returns to his home country to help these women.
The
Barber of Birmingham is
this year's Americana entry, though it does seem to have a huge amount of heart
underneath. The film follows a Birmingham, Alabama barber; 85-yearold James Armstrong,
whose shop's walls are covered with clippings and signs promoting social
justice. Armstrong is known not only for his decades of haircuts, but for his
social activism and his past as a foot soldier in the First World War.
On
the note of heartwarming, Japan bounces back from last year's natural disaster
in an artistic tribute to their country and its resiliency with The Tsunami
and the Cherry Blossom.
This film recounts the event of the tsunami, and the rebuilding of the country
afterward.
Each
of these nominees is altogether gripping, and each drives home an important
part of society and human nature. With a short film capturing the essence of
each cause, the Academy has its work cut out for them in terms of picking the
winner.
Each
of these categories is chock-full of deserving nominees, and it will be
interesting to see which films the deciding committee ultimately chooses to
reward.
Vancity
Theatre will preview the titles in the Animated category at 6:30pm and the
Live-action category at 8:30pm on February 20 and 22.
//JJ Brews, art director
//Graphics by Katie So
//JJ Brews, art director
//Graphics by Katie So
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