Every year for Oscar season, people tend to focus on the Best Picture category, only paying attention to the feature length films in the lineup. But one must not forget that there are an abundance of shorter, more concise and yet still brilliant works of art. Welcome to the world of Oscar Nominated Shorts, in which prisoners who claim to be gods switch places with their psychiatrists, men fight to mend animated objects, and countless other stories touch our hearts. This year's choices run the gamut for the variety of stories they tell, providing quite a bit of competition for our Academy to choose between.
In the Animated section, we see an abundance of wonderful characters who vie for our attention, including an OCD man (Mr. Hublot), a feral child (Feral), a witch and her cat (Room on the Broom), a weary Japanese traveller (Possessions), and of course our good friends Mickey and Minnie (Get a Horse!). My bet for the Oscar win is on Feral -- such a captivating look at how society can be more threatening than the wild -- though they all bring their game, making it a close call... Talk about the characters coming to life before your eyes -- in Get a Horse, they literally jump off the screen!
The Live Action section also packs a punch with its films. Some carry their weight in sentimental value, such as the janitor telling a story to a terminally ill child (Helium), and some hit hard with their clever premises, such as The Voorman Problem and Do I Have to Take Care of Everything? Then there are the films that leave you on the edge of your seat: That Wasn't Me, and Just Before Losing Everything. This last one is my personal favorite of the category, the story of a woman trying to remove herself and her children from the grasp of her abusive husband. It focuses so much on the practical terms of the escape that when the emotional moments do happen, they throw you right into the moment.
In the Documentary section, we meet all sorts of interesting people, and encounter all sorts of situations. The Lady in Number 6 is a pianist who survived the Holocaust; Karama Has No Walls plops us into a moment of attack on a peaceful protest in Yemen; In Facing Fear, a former neo-Nazi and his hate crime victim hash out their history; CaveDigger explores a world of cathedral-like sandstone caves dug straight out of the earth; and Prison Terminal shows us the last months of a terminally ill prisoner. These films completely transport you into someone else's world for upwards of 45 minutes, and let me tell you, those worlds are captivating. My vote would be for Karama Has No Walls -- once it hits you that the blood you're seeing is real, you'll be left wanting to just sit quietly by yourself after it's over.
Each section is playing at the MC (the documentaries will be in two separate programs), so be sure to check out (carefully) the show times. Have your own opinion about which films will win? Comment below, or better yet, come have a coffee with us here at the Cinema and give us a good debate!
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