Among all the other Oscars® given out, are three categories of short films. Those films can be seen in the weeks leading up to the awards at select theaters. (Check here for tickets near you.) One of those categories is Animated Shorts. Each year this category shows the wide range of styles, moods, and themes that animation presents to viewers. Here is a look at this year’s nominees.
Beautiful Men (18 minutes, France, Belgium, and Netherlands, directed by Nicolas Keppens). Three brothers have traveled to Istanbul to get hair transplants. The brothers all have different hairlines and very different personalities. The problem is the brother who made the plans, mistakenly only made one appointment for a transplant.
This is really a film about insecurities. Each brother has issues that are making them feel less than they wish they were. We may wonder if they each think new hair will be the answer that overcomes their problems. Or will new hair just be a coverup?
In the Shadow of the Cypress (20 minutes, Iran, directed by Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi). This is a story of brokenness and, perhaps, healing. A sea captain who suffers from PTSD lives with his daughter, but his violent outbursts are driving her away. When she leaves she discovers a beached whale. She is trying to save it, but it only leads to more torment for her father.
It would be interesting to try to mine the metaphors within this film: the beached whale, the seemingly unending flock of gulls, the shattered ship that the captain tries vainly to repair. Each of those reflects a bit of the anguish between the two characters. And it is only by what they can give up that they can find a path to healing.
Magic Candies (21 minutes, Japan, directed by Daisuke Nishio). Dong-Dong is never asked to play by the other kids, so he spends his time trying to convince himself that he really prefers to play marbles anyway. When he goes to buy some new marbles, he finds instead magical candy. When he pops the first one in his mouth, the sofa in his house speaks to him. When the candy has all melted, the ability to talk to the sofa is gone. But other candies allow new kinds of communication, including with his dead grandmother.
The magic is that Dong-Dong is learning to communicate by listening. It will open up possibilities that mean that he doesn’t necessarily need to be asked to play, but could actually ask someone else.
Wander to Wonder (13 minutes, Netherlands, Belgium, and France, directed by Nina Gantz). A kids tv series features a grown man and three tiny humans in furry costumes: Mary, Fumbleton, and Billybud. When the shows creator dies (and is lying on the floor attracting a legion of flies), the three struggle to fill their days, and find food to survive.
There is a dark comedic aspect to this film. Fumbleton is a bit of a klutz, Mary revels in being the clever one, Billybud is a exhibitionist who loves to quote Shakespeare while exposing himself. Their strange circumstance leads them to increasingly bizarre behavior.
Yuck! (Beurk!) (13 minutes, France, directed by Loïc Espuche). At a campground, a group of children spend their days spying on adults and complaining loudly of how gross and disgusting kissing is. They can tell it’s coming because lips begin to glow when two people want to kiss. But Leo begins to get glowing lips when he looks at Lucy. Will the two be able to consummate that relationship without the others seeing? Will the discover that fulfilling the desire of those glowing lips is not at yucky as they have been saying it is?
This is by far the cutest of the nominated shorts. It is a mild coming-of-age story in which innocence is not lost, but may perhaps be transformed. It also serves as a reminder that the glow of love is within all of us. You may feel the need to share a kiss after watching.
My favorites of these nominees are the two that focus on children, Magic Candies and Yuck! These two films may not try for the deeper meanings of the other three films, but they are a pleasure to watch as well is giving us something to think about.
Photos courtesy of ShortsTV.
