2/22: Live Action and Animated Short Films (2011)

On Day 30 of my 34 Days of Oscar, I saw some of the short films that have been nominated this year for an Academy Award. I saw all the nominees for Best Live Action Short Film and all but one of the Best Animated Short Film nominees.

The categories for Best Live Action Short film and Animated Short Film have been around since the 5th Academy Award ceremonies in 1932. Originally introduced as "Short Subjects, Cartoons" until 1970 when it was called "Short Subjects, Animated Films", the category became finally known as Best Animated Short Film in 1974. Hanna-Barbera's Tom & Jerry is tied with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies for the most wins in this category with 7 wins each. The category for Best Live Action Short film has had several name changes since it's introduction in 1932. One thing that has not changed has been what qualifies a movie as a short film. A movie has to be 40 minutes or less, including credits, to qualify for admission into any Short Film category at the Academy Awards.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

-"Pentecost" is an Irish short about a soccer-loving boy in a small Irish village who, because of an earlier mistake, was banned from being an altar boy. He is called upon to redeem himself when an important visitor arrives at his church.
I thought this was a cute and funny film with a good payoff at the end.

-"Raju" is a short about a German couple who travels to Calcutta, India to adopt a son. When he goes missing, they try all their options and discover something that could possibly tear them apart.

I thought this film was extremely well made and although I didn't care much for the woman who played the wife, I though the man who played the husband did an outstanding job. I have attached the trailer for this short above.

-"The Shore" is an Irish film about a man who comes back home to Ireland with his daughter after being gone for over 25 years. As his friends welcome him back, his daughter discovers that he had a whole other life that was left behind once he made it to America.

This is my favorite of the Live Action Short films. It was well made and the acting was mostly well done. It was difficult at times to understand the Irish accents, but I understood and liked this one overall. This one has the most star power in it with Ciaran Hinds ("Munich", "Harry Potter 7") as the lead.

-"Time Freak" is about a man who invents a time machine to travel throughout history. His only problem is that he just wants a perfect day and he has spent the past year and a half traveling to yesterday to work on his conversation skills.

I thought this was a cute film, but it was only 11 minutes long and I would have liked to have seen more time travel.

-"Tuba Atlantic" is from Norway and tells the story of a 70yr old man who has 6 days left to live. He wants to communicate with his long lost brother in America one last time before he dies and has devised the perfect device to do just that.

This was the dark comedy of the bunch. It was somewhat predictable, but was still fun and a little twisted.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

-"Dimanche" ("Sunday") is a hand-drawn short from Canada telling the story of a young boy who travels to his grandparents house on Sunday. The kid is bored and walks outside to flatten a coin on the nearby train tracks.

This was the slowest of the shorts I got to see. I suppose it was done on purpose to describe how bored this kid was on Sunday, but it left me bored as well.

-"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" is a computer animated short about reading. The main character takes care of books while writing his own novel.

The was the most well made and technically sound of the animated shorts. It was like watching a dream. Very intelligent short film.

-"La Luna" is a Pixar animated short film. This is about a young boy who's father and grandpa take him out on a wooden boat to show him the unique family line of work.

This was not available for screening.

-"A Morning Stroll" is an English short about a man walking in the city who comes across a chicken traveling home for the day.

I loved this one and actually watched it twice. It was short and very very funny. Of all the short films I saw this was my favorite. I Don't know if it will win the Academy Award, but I hope it does.

-"Wild Life" is a Canadian short about a young English man who arrives in Alberta in 1909 with dreams of settling the wild frontier. His story is interspersed with the description of a comet heading towards the sun.

The was a dreary, but well made animated film. I believe it was supposed to be comedic, but it was mostly just dry.

Overall, my favorite Live Action Short Film was "The Shore" and my favorite Animated Short Film was "A Morning Stroll". That does not necessarily mean that's who I think will win the Academy Awards this year though. If you are interested in viewing these films, it might be possible to view them "On Demand" at home on cable. I wish more people could see these films, as a majority are really quite good.