Every year, when I sit down to watch the Oscar-nominated short films it takes longer than I think it would. After all, they’re shorts, how long can it take?
But then I realized, there are 15 of them, across the live-action, documentary, and animated categories, and usually a handful of them are on the longer side, at close to the traditional cutoff of 40 minutes.
This year was no different. The documentary category is the strongest of the three, by far, although I should say that The Turnaround, one of my favorite short docs of the year, didn’t make the final cut, nor even the short list.
The shorts program is available to see in theaters nationwide, while some of the individual films are available to stream on Netflix, Vimeo, YouTube and elsewhere.
Having watched them, I have now seen every movie nominated in every Oscar category. And yes, all 15 of the nominated shorts are better than Emilia Perez.
At any rate, here’s my ranking of the 15 Oscar-nominated shorts.
Instruments of a Beating Heart (Documentary)
Directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki, it’s set entirely in a classroom in Japan, where a group of school kids is learning how to play Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Not only is the ending predictable, but the story is just not interesting enough to justify a documentary – even a short.
Wander to Wonder (Animated)
This animated film, directed by Nina Gantz, has a dynamite premise, as there’s a Mr. Rogers-like TV show, the host dies, and the kid characters fall into a Lord of the Flies-like battle after he’s gone. That sounds like it should lead to a great movie, but it just doesn’t.
Magic Candies (Animated)
Speaking of kids TV, this Japanese film at one point features a talking couch that reminded me of Chair-y from Pee Wee’s Playhouse. Daisuke Nishio’s short, is about a kid who plays marbles, eats them, and finds they operate like hallucinogenic drugs.
The Last Ranger (Live-Action)
A South African film about the evils of rhino poaching. At about 32 minutes, it’s still way too long, and not only because it’s so underlit for its entire first half that barely anything is visible.
Beautiful Men (Animated)
Now here’s a little story I like to tell/about three bald brothers you know so well (and one of them, as he’s frequently full-frontal nude, perhaps too well). Yes, it’s a stop-motion animated film about a trio of brothers who head to Turkey to get hair transplants.
In the Shadow of the Cypress (Animated)
A mostly silent Iranian animated film, directed by Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, about a sea captain, his daughter, and activated past trauma.
Anuja (Live Action)
A live-action film, directed by Adam J Graves, about a nine-year-old girl made to work in a sweatshop, before getting an opportunity to go to school. The ending is somewhat unsatisfying.
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Documentary)
A less-than-fascinating character study about the long career of the Leonard Bernstein-anointed double bassist Orin O’Brien, directed by O’Brien’s own niece. This one could probably have used a bit more distance.
I’m Not a Robot (Live-Action)
This film is a lot more aesthetically accomplished than the other films in this category, most of which are kind of ugly. Directed by Victoria Warmerdam, this film’s inciting incident is the failure of a CAPTCHA Test, and the premise is similar to that of the recent feature film Companion. Credit for using that child choir cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” – and not bleeping out the “you’re so fucking special.”
Yuck! (Animated)
Kids all over the world have the same opinion about kissing: It’s gross until it’s not. This charming short, from the French animator Loïc Espuche, takes that as its premise, telling a complete story in just 14 minutes. It’s easily the best film in the animated category.
A Lien (Live Action)
Directed by Sam and David Cutler-Kreutz, this film depicts a Kafkaesque immigration nightmare where a man is arrested at his own green card interview. Due to its topicality, I expect this to take home the award in the live-action category, despite the unfortunate pun of its title.
Death By Numbers (Documentary)
A powerful documentary, from Kim A. Snyder, about Samantha Fuentes, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting in Orlando, who spends the film preparing to deliver an impact segment at the shooter’s sentencing. The speech itself doesn’t disappoint.
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Live-Action)
From Nebojsa Slijepcevic, a Croatian filmmaker, comes this harrowing short drama, about a man on a train at the time of the war crimes in Bosnia in 1993. It plays like a thriller, and also tells a fascinating, at times surprising story, also in just 13 minutes.
I’m Ready Warden (Documentary)
A story similar to the 30-year-old fiction film Dead Man Walking, as a death row prisoner condemned to die, seeks forgiveness and redemption. Smriti Mundhra‘s film isn’t a story about an innocent man condemned to die; instead it takes a view of all of the people affected. This would have enough to it that it probably could have been a feature.
Incident (Documentary)
But the best of the 15 films is Incident, which is built entirely from security and body cam footage of a police-involved shooting in Chicago in 2018. Directed by Bill Morrison, the man behind the masterpiece Dawson City: Frozen Time. Unjustified police shootings may not be in the zeitgeist today like they were last decade, but this film is one of the best of the many documentary treatments of the subject. You can watch the full film here.
