Live action shorts are like watching a regular movie, except the stories are told in a lot less time. Not all stories take one and a half (or three plus) hours to tell. That doesn’t make them any less significant. The five nominees for Best Live Action Short Film Oscar® vary widely in tone, but all have stories that are told with conciseness and clarity. The nominated short films play in select theaters each year. Locations and tickets can be found at 2024 Oscar® Nominated Short Films – ShortsTV. Here are my thoughts on this year’s nominees for Best Live Action Short Film.
The After, directed by Misan Harriman, 18 minutes. David Oyelowo stars as a man who is on top of the world. He has a great job, and a beautiful wife and daughter. That is all ripped away in a sudden act of random violence. A year later, he has pretty much settled into his grief. He spends his day as a ride share driver, moving people along in their lives as his is just spinning wheels. One of the fares he picks up is a family with a daughter about his daughter’s age. The parents bicker almost the whole ride to their home. When they arrive, the girl does something that begins to change his world.
This is a great portrayal of grief that is so deep that he can’t see a way out. In part, that may be because he has not only lost the most important people in his life, but he has separated himself from everyone else. But sometimes even the simplest touch can be what someone needs. The After can be seen on Netflix.
Invincible, directed by Vincent René-Lotrie, 29 minutes. Inspired by a true story, we watch as a troubled young man who is incarcerated begins a spiral that leads to his death. (Not a spoiler, it happens at the beginning of the film.) We see him spending a fun day with his parents, but when he must return to the detention center, his mood and demeanor abruptly change. He just keeps digging deeper into trouble, until he finds a chance to escape, but he really has nowhere to run.
The film is the director’s coming to terms with his friend’s death, and also an attempt to help society consider how we deal with teenage mental issues. It is an increasingly dark journey that the character takes us on.
Knight of Fortune (Ridder Likke), directed by Lasse Lyskær Noer, 25 minutes. A man is at a mortuary where his wife has been prepared. He’s taken into a room with the coffin and given warnings as to what he might expect, but he finds he can’t bring himself to look. Instead he tries to fix a broken light fixture. Then, in the bathroom, he meets a man who also can’t look at his wife and asks him to help. In time, the two men will be able to help each other at a difficult time.
I have to consider this a dark comedy. Scandinavians have a particular kind of dark humor that many people may struggle with. Here is a story of having to deal with grief when we may not be prepared. But also a story of being with someone else also in need of help.
Red, White and Blue, directed by Nazrin Choudhury, 23 minutes. A single mother waitress is having to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. She lives from check to check and abortion is not available in her state. She sets off on a long road trip with her daughter so that she can get the help she needs.
This is the kind of story that is all too frequent. Recent abortion restrictions have created problems that shouldn’t be ignored. Certainly, this is a film that makes a point that many of those laws are absolute abominations. The mother and daughter in this story make a difficult journey, but one that gives them a stronger bond.
The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar, directed by Wes Anderson, 37 minutes. Based on a story by Roald Dahl, this is the story of a rich man who cheats at gambling, who learns about a guru who can see without his eyes. He knows this will give him a great advantage in cheating. So he finds the guru and learns the secret. When the challenge is gone from cheating, he decides to use his new riches for the good of the world.
I should start by saying that this made my year-end list of top films, even though it was a short. It is the best of five shorts that Wes Anderson made for Netflix. With an astounding cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Feinnes, Deve Patel, and Ben Kingsley) all of these shorts are worth seeing. This one is especially worthy because it tells a story of philanthropy, but also of the search for redemption. The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar can be seen on Netflix.
In picking my top two films in this category, I ponder what it means for the category that an established filmmaker is included. Does that seem like an advantage over filmmakers who are using shorts to establish themselves? On the other hand, does it recognize short films as an art form that other big name people might use?
That said, my top two films are The After and The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar.
Photos courtesy of ShortsTV.
