Animated
Shorts – The five nominated films to be shown vary in quality but are overall a
solid bunch. Canada’s charming Me and My Moulton concerns three
dissatisfied sisters who come to realize how lucky they are though the middle
sibling constantly complains about her lot in life. An unexpected turn of
events puts things in perspective for her. The predictable Disney short Feast follows the shifting role of a dog as his owner dates, marries and becomes a
father. Obvious and suffering from a terminal case of the “cutes,” though
only six minutes in length it still manages to feel long. The Bigger Picture from England is a confused bit of mixed media anarchy that has little in the
way of a narrative thread or purpose. A Single Life from The Netherlands
is the most imaginative of the lot as a young woman finds that the playing of a
record on a phonograph mirrors her life – she becomes older as the song reaches
its end, becomes younger if it skips back. The double entendre of the
title and the witty, ironic ending proves that even in a two-minute film, a
world of ideas can exist. Finally, The Dam Keeper from the United States
is an effectively atmospheric piece about impending doom, as a bullied pig,
who’s in charge of the city’s dam, must decide whether his callous, indifferent
fellow citizens are worth saving or should be swept away by an ever-growing
wall of water.
Live-Action
Shorts –
A surprisingly weak roster of films, these five nominees are of disparate
quality and interest. Israel’s Aya is an overlong, tedious exercise
about an insecure woman who leads a stranger on, suggesting a deeper
relationship, only to retreat to the safety of her marriage. The punch
line certainly isn’t worth the time it takes to get to it. The German film Parvaneh revolves around an unlikely set of circumstances between two teenage girls, one
from Afghanistan, the other a native German, that become quick friends after a
night of clubbing. While the
film’s sentiment is noble, its unlikely premise undercuts its intentions.
England’s Boogaloo and Graham tries far too hard to be cute in this tale
of two boys given tiny chicks to raise in 1978 Belfast. The short’s
abrupt shift in tone doesn’t help what is already a slight affair. The Tibetan
film Butter Lamp parades a group of traditional Tibetan citizens in
front of various backdrops in order to photograph them. While a bit
vague, the film effectively shows the stability and strength of these people
who’ve managed to stand strong in the face of global change. The highlight of
this program is England’s The Phone Call with Sally Hawkins giving a
strong performance as a counselor at a crisis center trying to prevent the
suicide of a man (Jim Broadbent) who’s called for help. The tension effectively
mounts over the course of the movie’s 20 minutes, as Hawkins is required to run
the emotional gamut as the woman she’s playing is put through the wringer.
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2015.
