Oscar Race: Live Action Short Finalists Reviewed
Monday, March 8, 2021 at 9:47PM by Nathaniel R
As we did with the Documentary shorts finalists, we're reviewing the Oscar possibilities in Live Action short. Unfortunately this group is harder for audiences to see (at this writing) so we don't have screening links for all of them. We've been unable to track down Two Distant Strangers but let's discuss the other nine options, divvied up into four 'types'...
CHILDREN IN PERIL
Bittu Karishma Dube
Remember a few years back when all but one of the Oscar nominees in this category was about children suffering dire fates? Thankfully this year's finalist list has more variety but endangered children could still fill up 40% of the nomination slate. Bittu, a strong third short from the Indian filmmaker Karishma Dube, is based on a true story about an accidentally poisoning at a school in rural India. The short revolves around a hot-tempered little girl (the titular character) who gets in a fight with her best friend and misbehaves repeatedly in class. As punishment she's denied lunch which ends up saving her life in this hauntingly direct miniature snapshot of a tragedy. Mira Nair recently did a Q A promoting it. [3 festival prizes plus a Student Academy Award Silver medal. Streaming until March 10th at Eventive]
Da Yie Anthony Nti
This short from Ghana is also about unruly children. Two little friends, Prince and Mathilda (also the names of the actors), are playing outdoors when a friendly stranger (Goua Robert Frovogui) offers them a joyride in his car. They see it as an adventure and hop in, ignoring the fact that they're due at home, their moms will be pissed, and they don't really know this man. Initially they're having great fun, especially when they hit the beach, but as the day wears on the kids begin to catch up with the audience that something is amiss. They're clearly in danger but of what kind? Like so many short films, Da Yie is more expressionistic than concretely dramatized. Some of the artistic flourishes are a bit difficult to read (why, pray tell, does the film end with a group of smiling children staring up into the camera and thus directly as us?). We're left more with the feeling of what is happening or might happen than with specific details. I personally found it affecting and you might too. The director makes a cameo as a windshield cleaner who annoyed Bogah. [Prizes from 39 festivals including Berlinale. Streaming until March 10th at Eventive]
HUMANIST TALES
Feeling Through Doug Roland
This short details the encounter between a homeless teenager Tereek (Steven Prescond) and a disabled man Artie (Robert Tarango) he glances on a street corner. Tereek instinctively offers to help and his own charitable act takes him by surprise. He assumes he'll be done quickly until the man reveals that he is both deaf and blind. Tereek is intrigued by Artie's apparent happiness, despite his disabilities, as the two wait for a bus together. One of the key selling points of this short is that an actual deafblind actor was cast. That's an earned and worthy novelty though the short is a bit broad in its sentimentality. I was much more moved by the tetchier moments that didn't feel self consciously profound, like the well-handled moment when Tereek fears the bus driver isn't taking Artie's needs seriously. [Prizes from 12 festivals. Available to stream on YouTube]
The Kicksled Choir Torfinn Ivrsen
I've shared before that I have a fondness for Scandinavian cinema (blame Danish ancestry and a couple of years lived in Norway). This is the entry I was most looking forward to, having already seen The Human Voice before the finalist list was announced. Kicksled Choir is about a young boy (Benoni Brox Kane) who longs to sing in a local choir that sleds around snowy Norway raising money for a nearby refugee camp. (As you undoubtedly know the refugee crisis is real in Europe and their are stateless people and asylum seekers everywhere -- you can find info about the numbers for Northern European and Scandinavian countries here.) The little boy's father (Stig Henrik Hoff, The Thing) is noticeably irritated by his son's interests. Despite just an 18 minute running time a lot happens beginning with an upsetting altercation between a refugee and the boy's father. Though there are tense moments, it's a kind-hearted movie. This is Ivrsen's 11th short (and he's already made one feature-length movie) which surely accounts for its polish. [Prizes from 3 festivals. Not yet streaming]
The Present Farah Nabulsi
This is a directorial debut from the British-Palestinian writer/producer Nabulsi. Her film is about a hard working man (Saleh Bakri, The Band's Visit) with back problems who takes his daughter into the West Bank, to buy an anniversary gift for his wife. The day doesn't go remotely as planned when soldiers at the armed check point harass him both when he's leaving and returning. Well-paced at 25 minutes it's an angry but clear-eyed indictment of the dehumanization and prejudice of border crossings. [Prizes from 22 festivals. Streaming until March 10th at Eventive]
GUT PUNCHES
The Van Erenik Beqiri
This Albanian film is the shortest finalist at 15 minutes and the length is just-right for it, since it's a fairly simple concept. The titular vehicle keeps dropping off a bloody and battered man (Phénix Brossard) who has been fighting for money. He's raising funds for passports and passage out of Albania with his father. His father (Arben Bajraktaraj) disapproves on more than on level and fears that his son won't make it through this journey alive. When the son arrives to The Van for one final fight a terrible shock awaits him. Despite its allegorical nature, I found myself distracted by the specifics of the illegal fighting... which weren't the point, I realize! Perhaps I wasn't in the mood for misery porn that day though the short is quite well executed and both actors are strong. [Prizes from 3 festivals. Also competed at Cannes. Available to stream on Vimeo]
White Eye Tomr Shushan
The second short from this Israeli filmmaker is shot in one continuous take and details an ever escalating situation when a man in Tel Aviv sees his stolen bike chained up near a kitchen that employs several undocumented workers and tries to retrieve it. Nobody we meet wants to get involved but everyone ends up involved somehow arguing about the best course of action. Coming out of these screenings I felt that this would be a fast fade rather than a favourite but I've thought about it more than quite a few of the others. The ending in particular is sneaky and intriguing in that it doesn't feel like a gut punch at all while you're watching it until you've stepped away from the screen and it begins to settle in. [Prizes from 5 festivals. Streaming until March 10th at Eventive]
ALL STAR SHORTS
The Human Voice Pedro Almodóvar
Previously reviewed and we're hoping it nabs Almodóvar another Oscar. More world class auteurs ought to experiment with the short form! Maybe it would help all of them realize that their movies don't need to be well over two hours each time to be wonders; the more famous and respected a director gets, the longer their movies tend to become. You've noticed this too, right? [Screened at Venice, NYFF, BFI, and Thessaloniki festivals. In theaters March 12th]
The Letter Room Elvira Lind
Lind has directed two documentary features (Bobbi Jene, Songs of Alexis) as well as TV episodes and a music video prior to this narrative short debut which stars her husband Oscar Isaac. Isaac plays a death row prison guard who gets a promotion to "Director of Communications" (with the sly suggestion that the promotion is as euphemistic as the job title). Basically he'll be reading prisoner mail to insure that no crimes or contraband or pornography are being sent or delivered. While the 30 minute short definitely has its moments, most of them tied to Isaac's excitement about this thankless task and how quickly he gets caught up in the drama of the letters without a real life of his own to focus on. The Letter Room is both sad and sweet but gets the most kick from its unexpected horniness (courtesy of Alia Shawkat writing to an inmate) but I kept wishing it would lean harder into either its comic inclinations or its dramatic beats, instead of longing for both from its humble little office in the middle. [Screened at HollyShorts, Tribeca, and Palm Springs Festivals. Available to stream on topic starting March 11th]
Nomination Predictions (alpha order)
- Bittu
- Feeling Through
- The Human Voice
- Kicksled Choir
- Two Distant Strangers
Potential Spoilers: Da Yie? The Van? Really any of them! Two Distant Strangers which we haven't been able to see is a time loop satire from Daily Show writer Travon Free (so it's had some celebrity support for its Q & As and such). It's about a black man being repeatedly killed by the same cop and his attempt to get out of the loop. This category is always hard to predict due to the lack of discussion about the films anywhere outside of (presumably) the halls and theaters of the Academy zoom rooms of AMPAS members. What's more the live-action short category doesn't have as many obvious reliable Oscars hooks as the other two shorts categories do so it's anyone's guess!
Personal Ballot ?
I'm at a loss this time. I definitely have a favourite (The Human Voice) and two that I didn't really respond to (Feeling Through and The Letter Room) but the bulk of the shorts are close, qualitatively speaking, in my estimation. With the exception of my personal favourite living filmmaker (Almodóvar), a nomination for any of these filmmakers would be their first brush with Oscar glory, so we'll be happy for whoever is nominated!
Reader Comments (11)
i'm here for Pedro getting his second Oscar
elvira lind is married to oscar isaac; how many more trophies does she need?!?
par -- SOME PEOPLE NEED EVERYTHING ;)
I saw The Human Voice in an empty and big cinema in Spain and it was a great experience. Very Almodovar. I think it's my favorite but I have to watch the other contenders.
I thought The Letter Room was pretty basic and visually flat. The Present was very good- simple and effective.... Feeling Through was cheesy but moving. Bittu has lingered for me, very disturbing and I loved the lead girl's performance. Cannot wait to see The Human Voice, but can't find it anywhere, so frustrating because Swinton and Almodovar seems utterly orgasmic.
Sean -- The Human Voice is in theaters starting Friday so VOD won't be far behind.
I'm missing Two Distant Strangers, Feeling Through, The Kicksled Choir, and The Van.
Of the six I've seen, I loved The Human Voice and White Eye. The Human Voice is a complete pleasure to watch, pulpy and fun, and White Eye was a beautiful little parable. The rest range from 'unremarkable' to 'the worst impulses of the Oscars in short film form.'
I saw Two Distant Strangers through a screening series with The Wrap. It was the only one that I watched and turned out to be the only one on the shortlist. I was blown away by the story and that twist at the end. It is a true testament to the times.
"White Eye" is the best one I've been able to see so far.
I don't think Pedro has this locked and loaded, but I would love to see him win for it. My favorite is White Eye, but our predictions are pretty close!
I finally got to see The human voice today at the Luxfest... and I have to say I was a bit disappointed... Maybe it's better on a big screen? I mean, I loved the lush deep colours of Almodovar and adored Tilda's acting - somewhat different from her usual, even if by just a hunch, all the better all more masterful. But the screenplay was just basic, compared to some other, deeper stories in this category and way more basic than the original Cocteau's play. Pedro of course may still grab the nom, because of the technicalities and his name, but for me the 5 best, now, that I've seen all 10 are:
1) Feeling through
2) Bittu
3) Two distant strangers (this may fall out of the noms, because it doesn't feel deep enough on the surface, but let's see how deep do the voters look into it).
4) Letter room
5) Kicksled choir
---
And the rest:
6) The present (may very well sneak in, being more serious on the outside also... and they seem to love the kids in this category)
7) The van
8) White eye
And for me The human voice comes in on the 9th place.
10) Da Yie/Good night