Oscar shorts tend to be, on average, better than the feature length contenders – with just minutes to use, filmmakers don’t have the time to ruin their own premises.
The animated Oscar shorts program is an hour and twenty-eight minutes and features all five nominees along with three “highly commended” runner ups. In between these films, the program includes a delightful series titled “Petite Intermission” in which a small cat-like creature lusts after forbidden (and possibly poisonous) fruit.
Dear Basketball – USA
A short memoir by Kobe Bryant told through animated sketches and narration, the sincerity of which counterbalances the pomp of the accompanying John Williams score.
We cynically kept waiting for the Nike logo to appear; and struggled to get away from the whiff of PR. In the end, however, we could not help but crack a smile.
Garden Party – France
Garden Party, in which frogs explore an abandoned house, is by far the most technically remarkable of the lot. We marvel at the life-like frogs, then laugh at how they lust after macaroons, or alternatively, each other, even as the setting itself grows ever more sinister. But the idea runs a bit too long; the grand reveal left us cold.
Lou – USA
Lou plods into the mix with a big, expensive Pixar-like production about a creature who decides to take on a schoolyard bully.
We resisted the slick animation and hackneyed childhood themes for a time. Yet, we eventually found ourselves completely won over by the titular creature’s mute, gangly charm and the simple, heart-felt story. Lou makes no pretense at high art, just a perfect emotional arc of the kind rarely seen in movies made outside of the USA.
Negative Space – France
Adapted from a poem and feels like it (not in a bad way – quite the contrary). Negative Space tells the story of a skill passed from father to son – the art of packing a suitcase. The filmmakers don’t leave much negative space in this short film either, turning the insides of luggage into an ocean of memories (and underpants).
The film leads to a surprising culmination both sweet and sardonic.
Revolting Rhymes – UK
Adapted from the series of Roald Dahl poems, and animated in a style reminiscent of collage mixed with children’s book illustrations. Modern flavorings include a real estate crash exploited by a corrupt banker (one of the three little pigs) and a Red Riding Hood that could have appeared in a Tarantino movie (meanwhile the men in the story are either short and spendthrift, fat and debauched, or sweet and dumb).
Various anthropomorphized objects and beasts help keep things light.
Highly Commended
Lost Property Office – AUS
Seen in sequence with the barrage of colorful entrees before it, Lost Property Office’s concrete, or really sepia, jungle can’t help but feel dull.
The art deco metropolis in which it is set would surely be a marvel to behold, if only there were more going on in it. We lost patience a minute in.
Weeds - USA
One of the few films in recent memory to be derailed by the font on its title card, which looks dangerously close to comic sans. The story itself is fairly inoffensive – a dandelion trying for a spot of green grass. However, the faux comic sans strikes again in the form of an aspirational message at the end that tips the thing from sweet to cloying.
Achoo – French
In Achoo, a stubby little dragon struggles to blow a flame. Finally, he develops a potion and proves that where natural ability fails, chemistry can succeed. East Germany’s 1976 Olympic team would agree.