Our take on the Animated and Live Action Short Films nominated for 2019 Oscars. They are in theaters now! This year there are some that are uplifting, but more that are disturbing, especially with regards to children’s safety, emotionally as well as physically. How these stories are portrayed is what makes the difference. Many times, shorts are the first step to being developed into future feature length films. Watch for that.
Animated Shorts
Animal Behavior – Al’s favorite. Alison Snowden and David Fine’s Fun and funny therapy session playing with recognizable traits, habits and personalities of creatures big and small.
Bao – Domee Sci and Becky Neiman-Cobb’s created Pixar’s touching and sweet story of a mother who births a dumpling that surprisingly turns into a baby boy and follows all the growing pains developing the mother son relationship. Mother is the central figure in this Asian family while the father is not present for most of the short. Beautifully morphing animation.
Late Afternoon – Louise Bagnall and Nuria Gonzálex Blanco’s short film of a woman with altzheimers/dimentia whose caregiver turns out to be her daughter. Dream sequences of the old woman’s youth as she ages, fading in and out of memory when she suddenly and joyously realizes that her caregiver is her daughter. Emotional testament to what can happen in the late afternoon of many lives.
One Small Step– Linda’s favorite. Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas’s short film of a girl who dreams of being an astronaut and the father who inspires her to follow her dreams to be a pioneer woman in space. Inspiring story for girls and boys, very well depicted. Good flow and pacing with satisfying payoff.
Weekends – Trevor Jimenez’s realistic portrayal of a family broken by divorce where the child is passed back and forth between very different households on weekends. Sad situation showing the child is the one who suffers having to fend for himself emotionally. Very stylized animation.
Live Action Shorts
Four of the five nominees seeing children in dire danger will make you cringe. So hard to watch. Marguerite provides relief from the others nominated shorts and leave you on a more positive note.
Detainment – Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon’s depiction of the1993 true crime story in 1993 of the murder of 2-tear-old James Bulger in England. Painfully disturbing short about 2 boys who walk off with a toddler who turns up dead, then follows authorities questioning the boys to get to the truth.
Fauve -Jeremy Comte and Maria Garcia Turgeon’s story of best friends recklessly playing in a vast, industrial, dangerous setting with a gruesome outcome. Compelling story of intense friendship and grief.
Marguerite – Marianne Farley’s sweet film is about an attentive visiting nurse who is so patient with her elderly sick patient. When the old woman discovers her nurse has a loving relationship with her female partner, it brings back fond memories of a special love for a woman in the old woman’s past. Beautifully done.
Madre – Rodrigo Sorogoyen and María del Puy Alvarado’s excellently staged and shot short showcases incredible acting in this Spanish language film. Only 2 people on camera, but the Madre does all the talking during the highly emotional cell phone call with her 6-year-old son. He is lost on vacation with his father as she desperately tries to get help to find and save him. Will she succeed?
Skin – Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman’s race themed story or 2 boys one black, one white. Angry father with violent and racist tendencies turns an innocent misunderstanding with an African American man in a store into brutal rage against an African American father in front of both men’s young sons. Revenge puts the offender in the other man’s skin with a shocking and disturbing final outcome.
