Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts
Here’s the conversation Ben and I had about the Live Action shorts nominated for Oscars, including our predictions for which one will be taking home the prize on Sunday night. Check out Ben’s place for some video clips of the animated nominees, too.
Ben: OK, so I finally made it to the live action shorts as well. On the whole, I was fairly disappointed. I saw them last year and, as a group, they were much stronger. That said, I did enjoy seeing some different interpretations with what can be done with 20 minutes of screen time.
So, they were pretty dark and bleak. Every single one has some sort of violence or death (at least imagined death, in the case of the true comedy of the bunch. My favorite was definitely Miracle Fish, about an 8-year-old schoolboy is a bit of an outcast at school. He gets upset, sneaks into the nurse’s office to take a nap, and wakes up to find an empty building. This was definitely the only one of the films where I couldn’t predict where it was going. While it probably had the lowest production values of any of the films (it seemed a bit blurry to me), it had the most compelling story.
After that, my favorite was “Instead of Abracadabra,” a sort of Swedish Napoleon Dynamite about a 25-year-old amateur magician who still lives with his parents. This was shown last, and you could tell the audience ate up the chance for some laughter.
“Kavi” and “The Door” were well-made, but not surprising or all that interesting. Kavi actually seemed a touch too reminiscient of Slumdog Millionaire. I think it even had a song by the composer from Slumdog. The Door, about the Chernobyl disaster and its affect on one family, was beautifully made but, again, a little familiar.
“The New Tenants” started out strong, with some funny repartee between the gay couple who just moved into an apartment. It gets a little too “wacky” for me, though, and I hated the ending.
Rebecca: I also hated the end of ‘The New Tenants’! I had mixed feelings about all of them except for ‘Instead of Abracadabra’, which I liked all of, and ‘The Door’, which I liked none of.
‘Kavi’ and ‘The Door’ suffered from being just about miserable circumstances, with no interesting perspective on what was going on. They were issue movies that beat you over the head with a message, and nothing else. ‘The Door’ didn’t give me any reason to care about the characters, and I felt like it was a real failure that it did not explain the significance of the door that the father went back to steal. I enjoyed the scenes with Kavi’s family at home, and I liked Kavi’s final act of resistance when he was walking on the clay bricks. I wanted the movie to have more of those elements in it - something to make the characters interesting people rather than tools for a lecture.
I liked the relationship between the two main characters in ‘The New Tenants’. From that opening speech, with the set-up arriving after the punchline, their relationship was portrayed so clearly - these two people who love each other dearly but find each other insufferable sometimes. The other aspects of the film I could take or leave, and I suppose they had to have a plot in there, but I was not crazy about it. As I said, I hated the ending, but I appreciate it in a way because they obviously did not know how to end it and decided to go with something completely off the wall and fanciful.
‘Instead of Abracadabra’ was great. I was thinking of GOB from ‘Arrested Development’ throughout the whole thing, not only because a bad magician was the main character, but because the way they used the cuts to add humor reminded me of ‘AD’ and ‘30 Rock’ a bit. I also liked the tail end with the flower bouquet - reminding us that he’s a bad magician made it less formulaic than just having a heroic ending where the anti-hero ends up triumphant.
I didn’t love ‘Miracle Fish’ as much as you did. I appreciate that it went in unexpected directions, and the ending (from when he hears the phone ringing and goes to answer it on) was fantastic. I did not find it very compelling up to that point, I didn’t really feel like I had much reason to care about the kid. I like the unpredictability, though, and the end was definitely emotional.
What do you think will win?
Ben: OK, you summed up my thoughts on ‘Kavi” and ‘The Door’ quite well, although I perhaps liked ‘The Door” a touch more than you did. The final image of the bricks was certainly the most powerful part of ‘Kavi.’ But yes, they both screamed issue movie to me. At least the other 3 were trying something different. As for ‘The Door,’ I saw that it was well crafted and I was interested in the first few minutes before we really found out the topic of the movie. When it came to the sad scenes, though, I had almost no emotions and actually felt kind of guilty. I think this is a failure on the part of the filmmakers in not making the audience care about the characters.I also thought of Gob while watching ‘Instead of Abracadabra.’ The movie had a really great tone, where you cared about the character but it was really unsentimental at the same time. I can see your point about the beginning of ‘Miracle Fish’ but I actually liked it the whole way. While the ending was definitely the best part, I was intrigued to see where the movie was headed the whole time.
What will win? I hate to say it, but I think it will be “The Door.” It’s well-made and about a serious subject. Isn’t that the Academy’s cup of tea? You could say the same about “Kavi,” but I think they might not vote for it because it does seem so similar to “Slumdog.” It would be awesome if they went for “Instead of Abracadabra,” but I don’t think comedy is their preferred genre. As for “The New Tenants,” I don’t really see it winning, but maybe I’m wrong. I do think “Miracle Fish” might have a shot. It wouldn’t be absolutely shocked to see any of the movies win.
Will Win: The Door
Possible Spoiler: Kavi
Should Win: Miracle Fish
Rebecca: ‘Miracle Fish’ is definitely the one that has grown most in my mind since seeing it, and I would like to see it again. I would like to see it, or ‘Instead of Abacadabra’ win. I know I’m being harsh on ‘The Door’, but it was just so self-serious it almost played like a parody of a Oscar’s tastes.
I’m having a hard time getting a handle on predictions for this group. I could see any of them winning, really. ‘Kavi’ and ‘The Door’ have the serious issues, and we know that Oscar likes Big Issues better than interesting filmmaking or inventive stories (see last year’s win in this category - ‘Toyland’, the least interesting of the bunch). I could see ‘The New Tenants’ getting in because it’s supposedly edgy, and the fact that it features some recognizable faces doesn’t hurt. I think ‘Instead of Abacadabra’ and ‘Miracle Fish’, our respective favorites, are not really in contention, though, unless some vote-splitting happens.
I do hold out some hope that this category could reward good filmmaking, since Martin McDonagh and Andrea Arnold have both won for shorts in the past, and you have to go to a screening to actually vote. This year’s group is just fairly weak, and even though I liked ‘Instead of Abacadabra’ a lot, I don’t think it can overcome ‘The Door’s Oscar baitiness.
Will win: The Door
Possible spoiler: The New Tentants
Should win: Instead of Abacadabra