91cm

Cool: seen the shorts ahead of Oscar night three years running, on two coasts and in three cities.

Oscar®-nominated animated shorts

Crit

All of the nominees are really short--between 3 and 12 minutes--so the program is padded with some ringers; the first five are the nominees.

• Ubornaya istoriya--lyubovnaya istoriya (Lavatory lovestory)--Good looking b/w with the story told in just a few touches of color, but a fairly tired story.
• Oktapodi--Oh, you gotta root for the octopus story, particularly when it seems to be set on Santorini. And it is fun and sweet and heroic--but "best"? No.
• La Maison en petits cubes (Pieces of love, vol. 1)--Interesting: a Japanese film with a French title and setting (well, sort of) following a French film with a Greek title and setting. This is without question the best of the nominees, taking a familiar metaphor--life as an ever expanding house, not designed, not a product of architecture, but simply what accretes through experience and chance--then puts a surreal underwater spin on it. It is also flat-out gorgeous, its colors both rich and muted, the animation consciously old-fashioned. Should win, won't.
• This Way Up--As I Lay Dying meets the part of Monkeybone where we hear Squirrel Nut Zippers' "Hell." Cute.
• Presto--Speaking of cute, here's your winner, and also by a factor of a zillion the one most viewers on the 22nd will be rooting for 'cause it'll be the only one they've seen, ahead of WALL•E. Don't get me wrong, this is a very good cartoon, but come on--don't Disney and Pixar have enough in the trophy cases?
• Varmints--Speaking of WALL•E, this is a cousin in ecopalyptic vision: the protagonist even has a beloved plant from before the time that paradise was paved and high-rise parking garages constructed. This is more surreal, though, and the narrative more challenging. Plus there are enormous flying jellyfish. A very good film, but probably too smart and confusing for a nomination. These five, by the way, were "highly commended."
• John and Karen--A nice joke of polar bear-penguin love.
• Skhizein--Brilliant allegory of emotional and social displacement: Henri is struck by a meteor, the result of which is . . . he's 91 centimeters to the right of where he appears to be. He adapts.
• Gopher Broke--Stupid little cute-animals-stealing-food-from-humans thing that we've seen a zillion times.
• Hot Dog--Much better animal story, if only because, in a world that looks normal, if minimalist, the dog looks as if Ralph Steadman is somewhere in his ancestry.

Oscar®-nominated live-action shorts

Crit

• Auf der Strecke (On the line)--Decency tested by romantic disappointment and found wanting. Very smart, probably the best of a solid but undistinguished lot, and interesting because while it's set in Switzerland, some of the filmmakers are German, as is the love interest and the language, and the problem of standing by and seeing evil done has some resonance there.
• New Boy--My prescreening favorite, because based on a Roddy Doyle story, but while it's engaging, mostly because of the faces and the lilt of the language, it doesn't cover any new ground.
• Spielzeugland (Toyland)--The most emotionally manipulative and the almost certain winner because . . . yes, Donna, it's the Holocaust film of the batch.
• Grisen (The pig)--A trivialization of cultural sensitivity that telegraphs its punch line, but nonetheless fun.
• Manon sur le bitume (Manon on the asphalt)--Everyone's fantasy of "what they'll do when I'm dead." One hint to Manon, just in case she pulls through: girl, get to movies more often; your last one was more than a month before the accident! Oh, but points for featuring Peyroux singing Dylan on the soundtrack.