#Hichem Mesbah | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thisguyatthemovies · 4 years

Text

The long and short of it

A brief look at the 2020 Oscar nominees in the Best Short Film (Animated) and Best Short Film (Live Action) categories, with title, nation of origin, director and running time:

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM

“The Neighbors’ Window” (United States; Marshall Curry; 20 minutes, 37 seconds) is a grass-is-always-greener tale about a middle-aged couple (Maria Dizzia and Greg Keller) who have two young children (and soon three) and have become disenchanted with their child-centric life. When a young couple moves into an apartment directly across the street from theirs, they become voyeurs, as the younger couple frequently hosts parties and apparently is too busy having sex in front of windows to have time to hang drapes or shades. But the young couple’s idealized life soon is shattered. This is more like a condensed feature-length film than the other entries in this category, and Dizzia and Keller are compelling as the disillusioned couple. The ending is perhaps telegraphed but still emotional.

“Une Soeur” (“A Sister”) (France; Delphine Girard; 16 minutes) seems like a scene lifted from a feature-length film. In it, a woman (Selma Alaoui) is being held captive against her will by the driver of a car (Guillaume Duhesme) when she tells the man she is calling her sister, when in fact she is calling an emergency call center. She talks to a dispatcher (Veerle Baetens) there and manages to deceive the man while relaying just enough information to help the authorities find her. Alaoui’s and Duhesme’s characters are nearly anonymous, as the scenes in the car take place at night and are filmed from the backseat. A well-made and well-acted short that is intense, especially during a flashback to the woman’s abduction.

“Ikhwene” (“Brotherhood”) (Canada, Tunisia, Qatar and Sweden; Meryam Joobeur; 25 minutes) is a multinational tale of a divided family that takes place in Tunisia. A young man (Malik Mechergui) returns home to his family after several years away and brings with him a Syrian wife (Jasmin Lazid), who raises suspicions when she won’t remove her niqab. This bothers the man’s father (Mohamed Grayaa), who suspects his son has been working for the Islamic State of Iraq. The tension only gets thicker when the young woman removes her headdress to reveal she is only 14 years old and carrying a baby that is not her husband’s. “Brotherhood” is about the bonds that both unite and divide a family, and it also offers a snapshot of how women are treated in Middle Eastern culture.

“Nefta Football Club” (France; Yves Piat; 17 minutes) is the most light-hearted entry in the category, if you can call two boys (Eltayef Dhaoui and Mohamed Ali Ayari) stumbling upon massive quantities of drugs light-hearted. The two boys are traveling along a mountainous road in Tunisia when the youngest happens upon a lone donkey that is wearing headphones. Turns out the donkey is carrying drugs and has eluded two men (Lyes Salem and Hichem Mesbah) who were to receive the drug shipment. The boys take the drugs back to their village, where the oldest plans to sell them. Has a couple of funny moments (especially when the two bad guys argue over what music the donkey was supposed to be listening to) and a mildly amusing ending that keeps the boys out of harm’s way.

“Saria” (United States; Bryan Buckley; 22 minutes) will no doubt be the most talked-about film in the category. It is based on the true story of how 41 young female orphans died in a fire after trying to escape the Virgen de La Asuncion Safe Home in Guatemala in 2017. The film focuses on the story of two girls, Saria (Estefania Tellez), 12, and Ximena (Gabriela Ramirez), 14, who, like others at the orphanage, face unspeakable abuse. They dream of falling in love, escaping and traveling to the United States. When they are locked away after their failed escape attempt, one girl starts a fire, thinking the guard will let them out. But, as in real life, the guard waited nine minutes before unlocking the door, and 41 perished. A heartbreaking punch to the gut for a lot of reasons.

Likely Oscar winner: “Saria”

Also in the hunt: “The Neighbors’ Window”

My choice: “The Neighbors’ Window”

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

“Kitbull” (United States; Rosana Sullivan; 9 minutes) has the power of Pixar behind it. It is the dialogue-free story of a stray cat who wanders into the backyard home of a pit bull being employed (and injured) in dogfights. At first the cat is afraid of the dog and is defensive, but the two soon strike up a friendship, with the tiny cat tending to the dog’s wounds, both physical and emotional. With the most straightforward animation of the five films in the category, “Kitbull” instead relies on the power of its story and its statement about the stereotyping of abused pit bulls.

“Dcera” (“Daughter”) (Czech Republic; Daria Kashcheeva; 15 minutes) is the most visually stunning of the five entries, with rough-looking papier-mache characters filmed in stop action and with simulated hand-held camera shots. “Dcera” is at times dizzying and difficult to follow, especially given that the visuals are so arresting. The story is about an adult woman whose father is in the hospital, apparently close to death. When a bird crashes into a window in her father’s room, the woman flashes back to a similar event during her childhood, and she recalls the uneasy relationship she has had with her father.

“Sister” (China/United States; Siqi Song; 8 minutes) is a black-and-white animated short featuring fuzzy puppet stop-animation and a story with a big twist. It is told from the perspective of a Chinese man recalling his childhood and a sister four years his younger. He is annoyed by her, and the two clash the way siblings do. But (and here comes that twist), the sister is imagined. His parents were preparing to have a daughter, but then the mother had to have an abortion because of China’s now abolished one-child policy. The shift from light-hearted to heavy is jolting, but this is a short with weight to it.

“Memorable” (France; Bruno Collet; 12 minutes) is as beautiful to look at as it can be painful to watch. Shot in stop-action animation that gives the appearance of paintings in motion, it tells the story of a French man suffering from dementia and his wife’s struggles to take care of him. The man’s condition is not spelled out in this dialogue-heavy entry but is more effectively portrayed through the art, with the audience seeing the world through the man’s eyes. It is both effective and mesmerizing, especially a late scene in which the man, an artist, dances with an unfinished painting of his wife come to life.

“Hair Love” (United States, 6 minutes) is a sweet story with a great production backstory and some big names behind it (including Jordan Peele). It (in a short amount of time) tells the story of a young black girl who is trying to do something with her unruly hair for a special occasion. She enlists the help of her father, who is clueless but helps her by watching online tutorials which just so happen to have been made by the girl’s mother, who is ill. The animation is simple but beautifully done, and it doesn’t get in the way of a beautiful story. “Hair Love” was conceived by former NFL player Matthew A. Cherry and was crowdfunded to the tune of $300,000. The short was shown in theaters before “The Angry Birds Movie 2,” putting it in front of a lot of eyes.

Likely Oscar winner: “Hair Love”

Also in the hunt: “Kitbull”

My choice: “Dcera”

#movies #movie reviews #movie recommendation #oscars #short films #animation #live action #international films

0 notes