OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT
FILMS-LIVE ACTION
118 minutes,
Not-rated
* *
One of the biggest chores of sitting through the Oscar
marathon broadcast is listening to chat and acceptance speeches related to
films you’re unlikely ever to see. Is a local cinema near you playing the five
films nominated for Best Picture in the Short Films—Live Action? Probably not.
Kudos to Oscar for recent decisions to bundle such films, but you might want to
skip the 2015 DVD when it becomes available. This year’s nominees consist of a
few “cute” films and quite a bit of tedium. None of the films rise above the
level of “competent” filmmaking. Lord knows there’s a lot of incompetence out
there, but one expects more of films up for honors.
Parvanah (25 minutes, Swiss, Directed by Talkon Hamzavi &
Stefan Eichelberger) tells the tale of an underage and undocumented Afghan girl
living alone in Zurich. The simple act of trying to wire money back home
without an ID card leads her into an unlikely friendship with a privileged, but
troubled Swiss teen. Nice idea and a luminous young woman in the title role,
but this is also the most ham-handed filmmaking of the lot. Think filmed
political correctness—by the numbers. Think Swiss teenager behaving stupidly–by
the numbers.
The Phone Call (21 minutes, UK, Directed by Mat Kirby &
James Lucas) is the only film with recognizable names: Sally Hawkins and Jim
Broadbent. That’s about all it has going for it. Hawkins is a crisis center
phone volunteer trying to talk a lonely widower out of committing suicide.
She’s torn between doing her duty and sinking under her caller’s
world-weariness. It’s depressing, but also predictable.
Aya (40 minutes, Israel, Directed by Oded Binnum &
Michael Brezis) is the film I think will win–not because it’s the best in show,
but because it’s the most stylish of the lot. Aya’s life takes an improbable
turn when a chauffeur service attendant asks her to hold his customer pickup
sign until he moves his car. The ride? A handsome, older Danish music competition
judge. Aya impulsively decides to pretend she's his driver. Why? Maybe she’s bored
with her marriage, maybe she’s starved for intellectual companionship, or maybe
just wants to be spontaneous for a change. The film looks good and it traipses the border between
intrigue and creepiness. That said, at 40 minutes it’s too long by half and
doesn’t deliver enough wallop for the attention it demands.
My personal favorite was a quirky effort called Butter
Lamp (15 minutes, China/France, Directed by Hu Wei & Julien Féret).
It’s just a series of vignettes–literally. Tibetan street photographers shoot
family portraits in front of backdrops of places their subjects (or they) will
never visit. This droll little film captures touching and funny ‘small’ moments
within families whose lives Westerners can only imagine. Nothing much happens,
yet we get a sense of life at the top of the world. My favorite moment is of an
old woman who won’t stop bowing before an image of the Dali Lama’s Potala
Palace.
Another amusing entry is Boogaloo and Graham (14
minutes, UK/Northern Ireland, Directed by Michael Lennox & Ronan Blaney).
It’s Belfast, 1978–a time in which British troops patrol the streets, random violence
lurks, and curfews keep most people off the street. It’s not an ideal place for
two young boys to grow up and it’s pretty hard on mom and dad as well. Life
takes an amusing turn amidst The Troubles when the boys come into possession of
two chicks–the title characters–and raise them to full chickenhood. But how can
you keep chickens or boys behind concrete walls? This film manages to find
humor and throw a spanner into our expectations. This is definitely a “cute”
film–hardly innovative filmmaking, but a very pleasant diversion.
You’ll notice that all the films are foreign-made. If these
are the best the world has to offer, it makes you wonder how many tuition dollars
are being squandered at NYU, UCLA, and Hampshire College. This year's short
films don't inspire confidence in the upcoming generation of filmmakers. Rob
Weir
No comments:
Post a Comment