Quick Reviews: 2022 Oscar Nominated Shorts
This post is made with the help of my Twitter buddy, Paul and the r/oscarsdeathrace subreddit. Like the year before, we helped each other locate all of the Oscar nominated shorts online, and this year I was lucky enough to go 15/15 again! (click the "shorts" tag to see my previous posts)
This year, there's a pretty clear winner for me in each category. We'll see if the Academy sees it that way too. Below are a few quick thoughts on each short.
Live Action Short Film
Ala Kacchu – Take and Run - This is absolute nightmare fuel and it's horrifying to know this actually happens thousands of times a year. I'm grateful for the direction this film went, because if it had gone another, I think I would've lost my mind. A-
The Dress - BIG yikes. This short is needlessly cruel. All of the live action shorts this year are depressing, and frankly misery is kind of this category's forte, but this really sets you up like it's going to be a life changing moment for our lead actress only to turn into a rape. You're welcome for that spoiler. F
The Long Goodbye - Outstanding and very hard to watch. A film about a Asian-British family minding their own business when armed men burst through their door. It ends with a chilling rap montage from Riz Ahmed - A
On My Mind - This was incredibly basic. It's sentimental, sure, but I'm surprised it's Oscar nominated. C
Please Hold - This plays like an episode of Black Mirror, but after all the other shorts were so relentlessly harsh, this was a welcome change even though it was also about a depressing subject. B
Animated Short Film
Affairs of the Art - This was hysterical. It’s about a middle age woman who regrets not going to art school and doing more with her life. So much fun to be had in 16 minutes and the art style was very unique - A
Bestia - This was incredibly dull BUT I can’t deny it’s a very unique piece of animation. C
Boxballet - The animation style is cool but this was just...strange. C
Robin Robin - This was cute, I suppose. But I’m not sure if the songs really worked for it - B-
The Windshield Wiper - The animation style was interesting, but this was sort of all over the place. The filmmaker says it’s a film about love, but I’m not sure it knows what it is fully about. C
Ala Kacchu – Take and Run - This is absolute nightmare fuel and it's horrifying to know this actually happens thousands of times a year. I'm grateful for the direction this film went, because if it had gone another, I think I would've lost my mind. A-
The Dress - BIG yikes. This short is needlessly cruel. All of the live action shorts this year are depressing, and frankly misery is kind of this category's forte, but this really sets you up like it's going to be a life changing moment for our lead actress only to turn into a rape. You're welcome for that spoiler. F
The Long Goodbye - Outstanding and very hard to watch. A film about a Asian-British family minding their own business when armed men burst through their door. It ends with a chilling rap montage from Riz Ahmed - A
On My Mind - This was incredibly basic. It's sentimental, sure, but I'm surprised it's Oscar nominated. C
Please Hold - This plays like an episode of Black Mirror, but after all the other shorts were so relentlessly harsh, this was a welcome change even though it was also about a depressing subject. B
Animated Short Film
Affairs of the Art - This was hysterical. It’s about a middle age woman who regrets not going to art school and doing more with her life. So much fun to be had in 16 minutes and the art style was very unique - A
Bestia - This was incredibly dull BUT I can’t deny it’s a very unique piece of animation. C
Boxballet - The animation style is cool but this was just...strange. C
Robin Robin - This was cute, I suppose. But I’m not sure if the songs really worked for it - B-
The Windshield Wiper - The animation style was interesting, but this was sort of all over the place. The filmmaker says it’s a film about love, but I’m not sure it knows what it is fully about. C
Documentary Short Subject
Audible - This short follows Amaree, a senior in high school at Maryland School for the Deaf. The Netflix synopsis says this is about the suicide of his classmate, but that’s only a small part of it and left me more questions than answers. This is a short that I think would’ve benefited from a feature length. It’s incredibly well made, but I still had questions after the credits started rolling. A-
Lead Me Home - This doc discusses homelessness in the U.S, which is terrifying. These past few years have been someone of a wake up call for a lot of people. When you think of being homeless, it’s easy to think “that couldn’t happen to me.” but it can. It can happen to everyone. While the film makes its point, it doesn’t offer up any alternatives to combat the homelessness crisis. It’s really just “This is bad, our government needs to do something. Fin. “ C
The Queen of Basketball - I wasn’t familiar with Lucia Harris before watching this, and I’m a little mad at myself now. She seems wonderful. I saw that she sadly passed recently, but this was a nice, quick look at her career. B
Three Songs for Benazir - I liked Shasta and Benazir, but I had a hard time being fully engaged with this short as a whole. It felt like it both dragged in time, but didn’t provide enough story. It was lacking. I didn’t hate it, and it’s not the worst doc of this bunch, but I wasn’t in love. B-
When We Were Bullies - Wow, I legitimately hated this. I thought it was going to be a reflection piece and a way for said bully to atone, but his victim isn't even featured in the film and it comes of as incredibly self indulgent. He even throws his own family trauma in the mix as an excuse for his behavior. The whole thing comes off as a weird flex. In a perfect world, Dick will make his own short about whatever he wishes and actually wins an Oscar. This definitely shouldn't win anything. F
I am so glad you lead me to Affairs of the Art as that short was fucking cool. I do want to see The Long Goodbye as I am a fan of Riz Ahmed.
ReplyDeleteI will not watch anything about bullying. Honestly, I'd rather see those who were victimized come in and beat the fuck out of that piece of shit.
I'm so glad you loved Affairs of the Art as well! I really hope it wins. It's just so fucking out there.
DeleteI really thought When We Were Bullies was going to go in an entirely different direction. Self indulgent mess, but still not as bad as The Dress. That was easily the worst short.
I want to find these and watch but only have youtube so i will see what I can find. Take & Run sounds terrifying especially that it happens. Too many women are abused in that neck of the woods (and other places) where a woman can still be stoned if someone states she did something wrong. Sorry...off topic. Affairs of the Art sounds right up my alley. I always wanted to work in an art museum either restoring or talking about the paintings. The Docs sound like I want to see all of them. When I worked at the Distress Centre, there was a Nuclear Scientist who would call from a pay phone. Due to an alcohol problem he ended up on the streets. Years ago, there was a homeless woman found dead on the streets in Toronto. It turned out that she was a super model back in the 1950s but she suffered from schizophrenia and alcoholism. All homeless people had a mom and dad and had..have a life. I was severely bullied when I was a kid and a teen, this last doc sounds like a bully who is making excuses for his demeanour. It sounds like the classic line.."I'm sorry, but I had a bad upbringing blah blah. The But negates the sorry.
ReplyDeleteA lot of these are on youtube so you should be able to catch a few! Some are on Vimeo as well.
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