I think I’ve figured out a good way to go about my days off. Eat, go to the gym, shower, see a movie, eat dinner, then comedy clubs. That’s what I’ve been doing, minus the gym (that’s more of a hope than a thing) for the past two days and I like it. It makes for a good day where I am out of the house and doing things and I come home tired. I don’t waste hours in front of the television and eat stupid amounts of food.
So today, instead of eating in from of the TV, I went the IFC Center in Greenwich Village. I’ve past by it a thousand times, and I finally got the chance to go. They are showing all the 'Shorts' for the Academy Awards. Great timing, since the Award ceremony is this Saturday. I saw the five short live action films, I figured that if I was going to see any of the shorts these had the potential of being the most well crafted. The other two categories are for animation and documentary. The films were great and really stuck with me in detail. I will tell you about them in the order I saw them. The first was the shortest film, it was called Pentecost and was only about 10 minutes. It was a very funny Irish film about Damian, a young boy who is forced to be an alter boy. Well acted and charming, but very simple story and plot. The boy has to decide whether he will make sure he is never an alter boy again or to not see the big soccer game that he’s been looking forward to. It ends with Damian making a decision that at once shows his love for soccer and his dislike of his status as alter boy. Very well put together and funny. I think because 10 minutes is too short, even for a 'short,' and how plain the plot is, Pentecost doesn't have a chance of winning the Oscar.
Then they showed us Raju, a 20 minute German film about a young couple who go to India to adopt an Indian child. At a certain point they lose the child and in trying to find him (which they ultimately do) they learn that he was actually not an orphan but has parents. The film does a brilliant job of showing the moral dilemma faced by the couple when confronted with this unfortunate bit of news. There are a few problems with this film; the biggest is that we know nothing of the main characters that we are supposed to emphasize with. I think it would have been good to have an extra scene explaining why they wanted to adopt a child and why they decided not to have one of their own (and why India!) For the first five minutes of the film I had no idea what they were doing in India, and whether they were good guys or bad guys, especially with the menacing music playing behind everything. These are major flaws, but they are countered with great acting by the young couple and the fabulous directing of Max Zaehle. It is worth a watch and it makes sense to me that it was nominated, but I would be surprised if it wins the Academy Award.
Then they showed The Shore. Filmed in Northern Ireland, The Shore is about Jim Mahon, who after 25 years of exile in the United States returns to his homeland with his American daughter Patty to reconcile the things he left undone. He has not seen his best friend and his ex-fiancee or talked to them in all these years. Extremely funny and meaningful, Terry George directs himself to this third nomination; I would be surprised if he doesn’t get it. Beautifully done, the only thing that I found lacking in this short was in the acting department, especially with Kerry Condon who played the American daughter, Patty Mahon. I just was not convinced at all by her performance. The scene when she’s trying to find out what her father is hiding, and she’s saying “what? Come on dad.” (Not exact words, but close enough) it is as bad as if I put on a wig and did the scene myself.
Time Freak was the fourth film in the series. Our only American nominee, and set in Brooklyn! A funny and quirky tale about a neurotic inventor who creates a time machine and his roommate who comes by to find out what he’s up to. Well done, and quick, the short is only 11 minutes and that includes credits. I enjoyed this one a lot, but I don't think its a serious contender.
The last short was called Tuba Atlantic. A beautiful Norwegian film that revolved around the theme of, you guessed it, death! I don’t know what it is with the Nordic countries but 9 out of 10 films I see that come from that region have to do with death. Anyway, Tuba Atlantic is about Oskar, a bitter old man, who just found out he has 6 to live. “6 months?” “6 days.” So he spends the majority of that time killing as many seagulls as he can. If I lived next to the ocean like Oskar, I would probably do the same thing, except he uses a submachine gun and a gigantic tuba. Since he has no family, a young religious girl comes to stay with him til he dies as his “Angel of Death.” It is at once funny and sweet. I am amazed that the film was capable of having such a light quality to it even when focusing on the last days of a man’s life. Very well done and the most memorable of all the shorts.
If I had a say in the Academy Awards, Tuba Atlantic would be the winner, but knowing how the Academy works, I’d put my money on The Shore winning this year. It’s a solid film, it’s in English, and the director has already been nominated twice before without receiving one of these coveted prizes. Three things the Academy has a reputation for looking at, although only one should matter. Anyways, I am curious to see how these do at the Award ceremony. This will be the first time I will see the Short Live Action category and know what they are talking about! Huzzah!
No comments:
Post a Comment