Your Guide to the Oscar Nominated Short Films of 2011

This year, Shorts International continues to promote the Academy-Award® nominated short films, which are available for screening in several cities across the country, as well as in the UK and Canada. But if you can't make a screening, they are also available on iTunes and On Demand. The shorts are original, thought provoking, funny and fresh, so don't miss them – it's quite a different experience from the predictable fare we mostly get fed at the multiplexes. For more information, and to join the spirit of Oscar® voting and choose your own personal favorites, visit http://www.shortshd.com/theoscarshorts/. Let's start our thoughts and musings with this year's animated. So, in alphabetical order…

ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS
– ANIMATION – Day & Night
Writer/Director: Teddy Newton
USA / Six minutes

This animated short was played before the start of Toy Story 3 in theaters last year, so audiences may already be familiar with it. The characters of Day and Night couldn't be more different, and at first, they each maintain their superior attitudes. Of course Night is a "darker" guy than Day, and Day is almost annoyingly chipper as they flip back and forth in a sort of "look what I can do" take on their duties . They finally arrive at the point of appreciating the important aspects they each bring to the table of passing time and nature, and form a respect and friendship. All the visions of day and night take place within the bodies (looking like little ghosts) of the characters, which is a cool touch—and the visions are clever and colorful. Rating: Three Bones

The Gruffalo
Directors: Max Lang & Jakob Schuh
UK / 27 Minutes

Coming in as the longest of the animated shorts (and the one with likely the biggest budget), this film is based on a beloved children's book and is lovely and sweet – not ground-breakingly clever, but a pleasure. Helena Bonham Carter (her voice lilting in a lovely maternal story-reading turn), Robbie Coltrane, and Tom Wilkinson are the famous voices who can be heard in the exceptional British cast. The animation is colorful and detailed and the characters of the squirrels and the mouse have that "aww" factor (and there's a great moment involving insects that wowed). The story is a tale of a mouse who ventures about the woods searching for a nut. He must use his wits to survive run-ins with animals who want to eat him. As he is adept at story-telling himself, he invents a monster he calls a Gruffalo. Is the Gruffalo real? See it to find out. Rating: Three and a Half Bones

Let's Pollute
Director: Geefwee Boedoe
USA / Six Minutes

This short is a satirical take on humans and our history of disregard for our natural surroundings. The animation is more crude than most of the others, but it's striving for the flavor of an educational "filmstrip" from the 1950s or 1960s, as is the narrator voice (Jim Thornton), and it succeeds. It's all tongue-in-cheek, but it gets its point across – and we all might see ourselves in it a little bit, even if we fancy ourselves as being better than that. Rating: Three and a Half Bones

The Lost Thing
Directors/Writers: Andrew Ruhemann & Shaun Tan
Australia / UK / 15 minutes

The most abstract of the offerings, this sweet and melancholy story is about a boy who finds a "thing" when he is collecting bottle caps on the beach. No one notices the thing, as no one is willing to look beyond their day-to-day involvements, except the boy. The thing seems to be constructed of items from a junkyard – items that have been tossed aside, guilty of the crime of no longer being wanted. Having noticed the thing and that it seems to be lost, the boy embarks on a journey to find it a home. Tim Minchin's narration adds the perfect inflections of a boy looking back on the day his earlier self found the lost thing. The denouement when the thing finally arrives "home," is rather moving and visually stunning. Rating: Four Bones

Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage
Director: Bastien Dubois
France / 11 minutes

This spectacular display functions as an inventive travel journal that whisks the viewer to Madagascar to witness the rituals of dance and death and just, well, life. This short doesn't have a story line, but it doesn't need one. Some of the faces the animators captured will make the moviegoer gasp a little – the expressions, the etched lines and the depth are wonderful. The whole piece makes you feel like you have been on a holiday when it is over. Rating: Four Bones

Final Thoughts: So which one will win? Well, in my opinion, the race is down to Madagascar and The Lost Thing, though there certainly isn't a lemon in the bunch. The Academy may like the flashy and celebrity voiced offering from the UK that is The Gruffalo, and it's good, but it just doesn't have the heart of the other two.

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ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS
– LIVE ACTION – The Confession
Director: Tanel Toom
UK / 26 minutes

Two nine-year old friends are informed they must make their first confessions along with the rest of their class. Sam is the "good" one and Jacob is the fun one, albeit a bad influence. When the movie starts, neither has much to confess – maybe talking back to their parents – but a seemingly innocent prank sends the movie along a tragic path, and said confession takes on a whole new meaning. The actors who play the boys are naturals and their chemistry is great. The Confession offers up a thought-provoking moral dilemma to the audience. Rating: Three and a Half Bones

The Crush
Director: Michael Creagh
Ireland / 15 minutes

An eight-year old Irish boy has a big crush on his teacher and decides to take matters into his own hands when she gets engaged to someone he deems not worthy of her. This small Irish film is both funny and suspenseful, and takes the audience down one path only to quickly revert and shock them with a completely new direction. The Director, Michael Creagh, used his nephew Orin Creagh to play the schoolboy, and that act of nepotism results in perfect casting. This kid makes a shot of his character walking across a school field memorable. The combination of the sweetness of his freckled face, contrasted with his spunky dialogue during the "duel" he has challenged his teacher's fiance to is priceless – as is the ending. Rating: Three and a Half Bones

God of Love
Director/Writer: Luke Matheny
USA / 18 minutes

Brooklyn-based Luke Matheny has written, directed, and starred in what is likely the most original plot of all this year's shorts. His dart throwing/lounge singing (yes, at the same time) character Raymond Goodfellow (catch the allegory) is in love with someone who does not feel the same way – Kelly, a drummer in his band. Unfortunately, she is in love with his best friend Fozzie. Raymond receives a mysterious package of darts that have the power to make the injected instantly fall in love with whomever does the dart injecting (though maybe not forever). Despite having such power, Raymond eventually learns some valuable lessons about love, friendship, and loyalty. This film is a total charmer and leaves the audience feeling like Cupid himself has thrown one of the darts at them. As an added bonus, the cast plays and sings all the music, and it's terrific. I challenge you to not fall in love with the goofy and talented Luke Matheny and his friends. Rating: Four Bones

Na Wewe
Director: Ivan Goldschmidt
Belgium / Burundi / 19 minutes

This film takes us back to 1994, when genocide was erupting in Rwanda, and reminds us that neighboring countries such as Burundi were not exempt from the violence or the Hutu/Tutsi hatred. A minibus is stopped by a band of Hutu rebels and its inhabitants are treated to the inhumane selection process that those who wield the power (because they have the guns) inflict on them. Each of the passengers must tell their stories and hope to be spared – and they all have stories. The bus includes a businessman who is not of African descent, when they leave him alone, adding to the message that violence can be quite random. The movie is realistic and disturbing (complete with a child rebel who has the empty look of those who no longer value life) and has a good universal message about human nature at the end. Rating: Three and a Half Bones

Wish 143
Director: Ian Barnes
UK / 25 minutes

Samuel Peter Holland gives a moving performance as David, a teenage boy who is in a facility being treated in his last stages of cancer. The UK's version of the Make a Wish Foundation has been tasked with granting him a big wish – hoping that it involves meeting a favorite sports figure or the equivalent "do-able" wish. But David has other ideas – he's a virgin, he wants a woman and he's not going to accept anything less. At first, everyone is against him, but eventually, even the resident priest comes to see his point of view. Though David is very sick and the reality of his condition is grave, the humor and compassion shine through in this film that takes a lousy situation and molds it into an uplifting tale – complete with a metaphor involving fruit that will haunt you for a couple of days. This film takes the scary subject of cancer and puts you right into the thick of what a real person goes through – and makes you understand the unique views of a teenager who has been fated to die. Rating: Four Bones

Final Thoughts: All the live action shorts this year are excellent. But the race should be between God of Love and Wish 143. This year's crop notably includes several terrific performances from children—the boys from The Confession, the lad from The Crush, and the teenager from Wish 143. It's obvious they were directed well and weren't spoiled with any pixy dust from Hollywood. Yet.

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