If you are looking for something that stands out from your ordinary Hollywood movie, try watching "The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2009" at the Charles Theatre.
This collection includes all of the nominees for Best Short Film, Animated and Best Short Film, Live Action as well as four highly commended short animations that did not make it to the nominee ballot. After three and a half hours, you are bound to come out of the theater with lovely inspiration upon seeing these creative productions.
The marathon of shorts begins with the animated nominees. Lavatory - Lovestory is a black-and-white Russian animation that focuses on a lonely woman who is in charge of a public bathroom. As she tries to uncover the identity of her secret admirer who leaves her flowers in the money-jar, she experiences conflicting emotions ranging from the excitement of having finally found the man of her life to the frustration of not being able to discover who is bringing her the flowers.
Oktapodi is a two-minute long animation that tells the story of two octopi lovers who would do anything to save each other from being made into food. The quality of this highly dynamic French production is comparable to that of Pixar, and the story itself is highly entertaining.
In La Maison en Petits Cubes, an old man is living alone in a town that has been submerged in water. As the water level rises, he has to climb up his house and build another room - a "cube" - on top for himself to live in. When he drops his favorite pipe through the trapdoors that connect each "cube," he goes for a dive in order to retrieve it.
As he descends through each cube, the memories return to him, and he relives each part of his life, from adulthood to childhood. The slow-paced yet sentimental story, which is a Japanese production despite the French title, is made stronger through the hand-drawn look of the animation and the touching music.
Comedy made its presence known in the short-film categories with This Way Up. The darkly comic film is about two morticians who are to retrieve a body for burial. However, at every single second of their journey they seem to encounter a problem that prevents them from completing their mission in a noble fashion.
The Walt Disney animated short Presto proves to be as entertaining as any full-length Disney movie. Presto is a magician who forgets to feed his rabbit before the show. When it is time for Presto to pull the rabbit from his magic hat, the rabbit decides to get his revenge from Presto for not feeding him, and the show turns out to be much different than Presto initially intended it to be. This fast-paced animation is bound to make viewers laugh hard!
The five animated-short nominees are followed by their live-action counterparts.
The first, New Boy, is a comedy-drama about a young African boy named Joseph who had to leave his country to escape war. Now, he must try to adapt to his new school in Ireland. In between flashbacks to his schooling in Africa, the movie flows smoothly, conveying the experience of Joseph as he starts fitting in with his new classmates and making friends with the classroom bullies. The acting of the children is absolutely wonderful and captures the full interest of the audience.
Set during the Holocaust, Spielzeugland (Toyland) tells the story of a German woman who searches in desperation for his son, who she believes might have decided to accompany his Jewish blood-brother to a Nazi concentration camp. This short movie is certainly not short on emotion, and the ending is a heartbreaking moment that makes the audience smile at the same time.
Grisen (The Pig) questions the importance of religious rights versus personal freedoms in Denmark. An old man, Asbjorn, is admitted to the hospital due to colorectal problems, and during his stay, he grows a strong connection to a painting of a pig that is hanging on the wall across his bed. However, after the arrival of a Muslim patient, who shares the room with him, Asbjorn finds out that the painting of the pig was removed due to the request of the Muslim family. Determined to get the painting back hanging on the wall, Asbjorn decides to take the matter in his hands.
The Oscar nominees for short films are often overlooked. However, these short productions can sometimes leave a much greater impact on the audience than any major Hollywood production can, as they effectively address the most humane feelings in such a small and compact framework.
In the end, La Maison en Petits Cubes won the Oscar for best short animation and Spielzeugland got the best live-action short. Check them out at the Charles to decide if the Academy got it right.
