Even before that, voters received free admission to screenings. Having friends in the industry, that’s how I saw most of the nominees in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, filmmakers didn’t want their films to be critically reviewed on the small screen. That seems to have changed with larger TVs and better formats (has anybody tried watching something on VHS, lately? Ugh!)
Silence of the Lambs is not a slasher film by any definition. It is the only time a horror has won however.
I could make just as compelling an argument that CODA won because it contained “woke” subject matter in the year of wokeness.
I just saw Top Gun Maverick last week and can say with absolutely certainly that it was robbed in not winning the Oscar for Movie You Really Should Not Watch While You Are Actually In An Airplane And Don’t Want The Flight Scenes To Kind of Make You Nervous.
Personally, having just refreshed my memory of what else what up for Best Picture, the most compelling argument is that it was the Best Picture up for a nomination that year.
Not a great year for movie releases. Understandably. That one though was pretty damn good.
With only a couple of weeks left until the ceremony, they’ve released theatrical packages of Short Film categories. I just got back from a local showing of the Animated and Live Action nominees. My takes:
Best Live Action Short Film
An Irish Goodbye - Tom Berkely and Ross White
A sweet, but not very groundbreaking entry. It got a fair amount of applause from the Westside audience (which contains a lot of the demographic of the Academy).
Ivalu - Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
Something of a downer, set among the indigenous population of Greenland. Somewhat schematic to fit in the time.
Le pupille - Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
Sort of a five finger exercise by two master directors, it’s an amusing shaggy dog story that engages you right through the credits. There was a big round of applause for this one.
Night Ride - Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
The little person (literally) gets to take the drivers seat. What starts as a funny light-rail hijack turns into a chance to step up and defend the helpless, with a clever twist on the ending. Not as much applause as Le pupille, but a lot of outright laughs during.
The Red Suitcase - Cyrus Neshvad
If there was ever a traveler that needed someone to ask “Are you in trouble? Can I help you?” it’s the heroine of this little tale of what someone might be willing to give up to attain freedom.
My bet? Le pupille, unless it’s Irish night at the Oscars, in which case An Irish Goodby could sneak in.
Best Animated Short Film
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
This was the most endearing tale of the bunch. It’s an allegorical tale aimed squarely at children as an audience, but it gets to the adults as well. Maybe a little to on the nose, but it leaves you with a good taste in your mouth.
The Flying Sailor - Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis
A somewhat surreal bit of animation based on actual incident in 1917. A little bit too abstract for its own good.
Ice Merchants - João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
I want to understand an economy in which someone can make a living selling a single box of ice cubes each day. Global warming may or may not be the core theme, but this feature is too muted to discern this.
My Year of Dicks - Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
This one lives up to the warning that precedes it to get children out of the room. Heartwarming and funny coming of age story that contains a lot of laughs.
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It - Lachlan Pendragon
Stop action films that provides a take on The Truman Show. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really add anything beyond this one note.
If the Academy sticks to its usual path, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse will likely win. If the voters are willing to allow the title to be read during the telecast, My Year of Dicks could win.
Caught this on Disney+ and dug it. It’s a better allegory of Fascist Italy than Banshees is of Civil War Ireland…and funnier, too.
Oh god I hope not. That was the worst of the lot! So treacly. That got boos from the audience I saw it with! Someone afterwards joked that since My Year of Dicks had the content warning, this one should have had a similar warning of “Not suitable for adults.” It felt like reading platitudes from a self help book.
I thought The Red Suitcase was so depressing.
So now this 16-year-old girl is stuck hiding under a bus going who knows where without any possessions, literally only the clothes on her back, and just 2 euros in a country where she doesn’t speak the language? That is not a story that will end well.
I saw all 15 of the shorts this weekend. My picks would be:
Animation: My Year of Dicks (I also just want that title to be read on air!)
Live Action: An Irish Goodbye
Documentary: The Elephant Whisperers
The Doc shorts were the strongest overall bunch this year. I also really enjoyed How Do You Measure a Year and Stranger at the Gate.
About that…
It’s a bestseller.
Ok? It still felt like quotes from a self-help book. It was 30 mins of “Be kind” “You are loved” “Home isn’t always a place” “Asking for help isn’t giving up” etc etc. Great stuff to read to a child before bedtime, but it was the longest film of the five and got tiresome and repetitive after 15 mins.
Did you think I was disagreeing with you? It is quotes from a self-help book (in that twee Jonathan Livingstone Seagull/Tao of Poo kind of vein)
While I agree that My Year of Dicks is probably the most worthy of the Animation Shorts, I just don’t think the demographics of the Academy voters supports it as a winner. Once you eliminate it, sadly the best remaining nominee is probably Jonathan Livingston Mole & Friends. Plus, IIRC it’s an Apple-BBC co-production, which is going to pull some votes just on that fact.
In the Live Action category, my favorite was Night Ride, but I can’t see that one winning.