My look at the hidden gems at the Oscars continues with the live action short films: like most of the nominees, only shorter. There’s an obvious frontrunner this year that’s substantially bigger than the other nominees, so I feel it’s even more important to talk about the other films (although I feel some might be possible competition).
The After features David Oyelowo as a man left shattered after the death of his wife and daughter in a brutal attack one year prior. As an Uber driver, his encounters with passengers lead him to confront his grief. David does a great job, but this was by far one of the weakest shorts this year, and I mean that in general. It isn’t much other than depressing, and the ending felt extremely hollow.
Red, White and Blue features a great Brittany Snow in a hot-button short that honestly feels like a feature in miniature. Single parent Rachel needs to find an abortion clinic, but unfortunately lives in Arkansas. Unable to support another kid, she is forced to hit the road towards a state where it’s legal. As mentioned, it has the makings of a feature film shrunk down to 23 minutes, but it’s good as is. I’m going to keep this one brief in case any readers see this short, because the ending will make your jaw hit the floor. If the premise didn’t already convince you, this is an absolute emotional gut-punch of a short.
Knight of Fortune is another look at grief, only this one is unexpectedly funny. A darkly comic drama from Denmark, it focuses on Karl, who has just lost his wife but is unable to face seeing her at the morgue. Then, Karl meets Torben, who has also lost his wife and who he finds a connection with. Torben helps Karl process his grief—under unusual circumstances. Again, this short is way funnier than you might expect, peppered with gallows humor and a reveal that’ll bring cringe laughs before touching your heart. This one was a surprise in what was a pretty downbeat lineup of shorts this year.
Invincible is a Canadian short that was one of my favorites of the lineup. A personal story based on true events, it follows Marc-Antoine Bernier, a 14-year-old trying to get out of a juvenile detention center, in his last 48 hours of life. (That isn’t a spoiler, as the film opens with his death.) Marc’s troubled, rebellious behavior is at odds with his genuine desire for freedom, even as he’s told that only being officially released will make him truly free. I’m admittedly drawn to stories like this, so my opinion might be a bit biased. Nevertheless, the performances are great across the board, especially Léokim Beaumier-Lépine as Marc. Notably, the director was friends with the real Marc, and felt compelled to make this short to understand the tragedy. If there’s any short that I feel might be able to beat the next one, it’s Invincible.
Finally, my pick for the live action shorts is definitely the most notable short nominated overall. Last summer, Wes Anderson released his latest feature Asteroid City, which may have sounded like an Oscar hopeful but ultimately left a lot to be desired. However, he still made it to the nominations with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, his adaptation of Roald Dahl’s short story of the same name and one of four short films he made for Netflix based on Dahl’s stories last year. It’s obvious that Anderson has a major advantage here, with major name recognition, an all-star cast, and production values that more independent shorts couldn’t compete with. That said, it’s still the best short of the five. First of all, while Anderson has adapted Dahl before with Fantastic Mr. Fox, this film takes a more unconventional approach by having the characters effectively read the text almost as-is, even the third-person portions. This isn’t surprising given that the story as written is perfect for Anderson, with a narrator and two layers of nested stories built in, both among his directorial trademarks. (Ralph Fiennes plays Roald Dahl, who serves as the main narrator.) The production and staging are absolutely outstanding, but not at the expense of the overall quality. Finally, the short is just a blast to watch. The screening of the live action shorts I saw put this at the very end, and it’s easy to see why. With the other nominees dealing with such heavy subject matter, this one definitely stood out for just how fun it was, both for the audience, and seemingly for the people making it as well. I feel like Wes has been overdue for an Oscar for quite some time now (the closest he’s come was four technical Oscars for The Grand Budapest Hotel, but never beyond that), and if this finally earns him one, it’s well-deserved.
Overall, this was a decent batch of shorts, with one standout, one dud, and some good ones in-between. Stay tuned for more of my coverage of this year’s Oscars.
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