It’s about that time again. The 98th Academy Awards are scheduled on March 15, which probably feels like there is not enough time to watch all the nominated films (though watching list-toppers Sinners and One Battle After Another will cover a lot of ground). It might be prudent to get cracking on this year’s nominations for the short film categories, which include animated, live action, and documentary. The Coolidge Corner Theatre is currently playing the nominated short films in their designated categories and Taika Waititi’s name plastered over for some reason. Watching movies is fun, but betting on winners during awards season is another kind of manic pleasure that usually ends in disappointment. Know-it-alls who chose the wrong Safdie brother in the awards race can re-experience the immersive experience of getting wrecked again. Let’s get on it and argue! 

INTRODUCTION

If it pleases the court to share, I usually watch the animated features first. Even if you could guesstimate what the films are about, I don’t think you could put into words what you’ll get. It’s almost like being able to guess everyone’s illustrative interpretation of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy. You’ll get marginless sketches of pretty-boy Leonard(o)s, or you might be the creative head behind Gnomeo & Juliet. Whatever the case may be, the animated shorts program feels most like a cold plunge, with varying results depending on the film lover and person of human interests that you are. Let’s take a look at this year’s nomination for Best Animated Short Film.

CONTENDERS (LISTED IN PROGRAMMING SEQUENCE)

1. THE THREE SISTERS (dir. Konstantin Bronzit | Israel, Cyprus, 14 mins | trailer) – After losing a pretty chunk of change, three elderly sisters place one of their rooms up for rent on a remote island, not knowing who will come. 
2. FOREVERGREEN (dir. Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears | United States, 13 mins | full video) – An anthropomorphic evergreen tree takes care of a bear cub.
3. BUTTERFLY (dir. Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens | France, 15 mins | full video) – This short film portrays the life of Alfred Nakache, Olympic swimmer and Holocaust survivor.
4. THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS (dir. Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski | Canada, 17 mins | trailer) – An elderly man recalls the story of a girl he met when he lived in poverty as a young child.
5. RETIREMENT PLAN (dir. John Kelly | Ireland, 7 mins | full video) – Domnhall Gleeson voices a man planning out his post-retirement life.

BONUS: ÉIRU (dir. Giovanna Ferrari | Ireland, 13 mins | (full video) – Very much like Pixar’s Brave.

THOUGHTS

It never occurred to me to watch the shorts in the sequential order that they would appear in theaters, which rationally makes a difference in the experience. Logically, the non-child-friendly shorts are presented toward the end (denoted by a warning title card), though there’s something about that that says to me, “I want to stick around and see what the fuss is about.” This year is decidedly less abrasive than last year’s and altogether avoids the plane that Bestia, my self-proclaimed gold standard of Rated-R animation, exists on.

Anyway, the last two shorts were deemed as inappropriate, which I can try to grasp here:

• The Girl Who Cried Pearls carries itself with such serious sadness that the touch of comedy at the end is a welcome surprise, though it never felt like it would happen – as if the villain in the new season of Bridgerton revealed to be a clown in a corset at the end of an episode (I’ve never seen the show). The aesthetic has a grotesqueness that seems like a natural byproduct of claymation handiwork. It makes a lot of sense that wrinkles are exaggeratedly saggy in older people, evil people will have shadowy pockets of skin, and people who have not showered look so dry and red, with corroded hands made to look like they are actively rotting. To be honest, I can’t even remember why this short was rated PG-13.
• One of the new rules in this year’s voting is that members must watch all nominations to participate in the final ballot. If that were the case, I think that Retirement Plan would win a lot of people over. Domnhall Gleeson’s narration fits the humdrum droning of an older man planning out his future once he retires, only to find that all the time left in the world does not mean that we will be able to do it. There is a part about an orgy that encapsulates the short’s funny/sad spectrum.

Unsurprisingly, I really enjoyed these two. The Girl Who Cried Pearls follows a familiar lane of young children white-knighting despite their circumstances and lack of means. I think the framing of the old man’s narrative makes it feel like there was going to be something special about this film, up to the point where he was able to become the rich man that he is, telling his nosy granddaughter about the special pearl he has kept all these years. And Retirement Plan recalls some of Chris Ware’s artwork – two-dimensional moving pieces with pondering thoughts that expand beyond the storyboard and into our consciousness. The question of ‘What will we do when we retire?” transforms into “Why aren’t we doing it now?”

There is usually one nominated film like Forevergreen that reminds me of my ever-growing brittleness. I do not care for this film and I am almost pained from it, which may have been conjured from someone in the boardroom saying, “You know who needs an origin story? Smokey the Bear.” However, that idea is not as painful as the execution, in which a forest tree takes a baby bear under its wings (branches?) when it was left alone. But if Forevergreen relied on bears and nature, The Three Sisters understood the pressure-cooker assignment of three sisters living together on an island. Konstantin Bronzit, who has been nominated twice in this category before, loves to show the power of human connection. The three sisters agree to rent out one of their rooms to make more money, to which a burly sailor comes and sweeps each of them away. I will try not to use “webtoon'” as a descriptive, but The Three Sisters has an ani-motion and close ups that resembles stick figure expressions found in older Internet GIF lore, all in the packed emotions that are not unlike The Beguiled.

Butterfly is a solemn submission, and based on the previous winners of this category, I can see this film winning. It follows the story of an ethnically Algerian competitive swimmer whose life is disrupted and ruined by the Holocaust in the highs of his Olympian career. Though I understand the intent of the animation’s flow and ebb, I think it looks admirably best in stillness.

PREDICTIONS

WHAT SHOULD WIN: The Girl Who Cried Pearls
WHAT WILL WIN: The Girl Who Cried Pearls

Watch this space for Anna’s roundups of the nominated Live-Action and Documentary short films!