Win your Oscar party (or maybe catch some good movies) with this comprehensive guide to this year's live-action, animated, and documentary short contenders.
Feb 28, 2023·edited Feb 28, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias
Honestly can't wait for which actor has to say "My Year of Dicks" during the Oscar ceremony when reading the list of nominees, absolutely worth these being given out on air just for that moment.
I go to the animated shorts every year in the theater -- kinda nice to be able to see a whole category in ~90 minutes, would recommend. This year felt weak, and The Boy, The Mole... was easily the worst of the bunch; you could practically hear the theater groan after hearing lines like "what's the bravest thing you've ever done? *Ask for help*". Thirty minutes of Hallmark sympathy card punchlines read by Idris Elba, Gabriel Byrne, and Tom Hollander -- sadly, it's total Oscars-bait. Ice Merchants and An Ostrich were excellent and are absolutely worth a watch.
My parents gave me the book The Boy, The Mole, etc etc during the pandemic to improve my spirits. I remember the gesture when I want to draw strength, because actually reading it makes me want to plunge my head into an icy river.
Loved "Le Pupille." Watched it over Christmas break with Donna and Ash and we all dug it (after I turned off the abysmal English dub and switched over to the original Italian). It was Donna's first encounter with Rohrwacher and she liked it so much that she ended up showing "Happy As Lazzaro" in her film class this semester. (About half the students loved it; the other half were utterly baffled.)
Walking out I said it felt weird that the front runner was the one with big names (Cuaron) and the biggest studio behind it, but the filmmaking is undeniable. So many beautiful flashes and lovely naturalism mixed in. Like finding an old overlooked classic. Sometimes the big fish gets it right.
I just want to make sure: Flying Sailor is inspired by but not an actual story of the Halifax Explosion, correct? That's one of my historical...obsessions really, doesn't come up terribly often.
It's like 90% just a fat naked guy flying through the air and seeing snippets of his life flash before his eyes, the historical event as far as I could tell was mostly incidental.
Agree with the predictions though Pam was and probably is one of the most naturally funny people I've ever met and it was never a surprise she moved on from Austin and found success. My hope is she takes down Godzilla.
"How Do You Measure a Year?" sounds like the "Up" series crossed with the same-question conceit of Kieślowski's "Talking Heads."
My dumb trick for the short film categories in Oscar pools is to Google each title and see what comes up with the most number of hits. Sometimes I factor in if the subject matter is a hot topic, or if the filmmaker is a known commodity in some form or fashion. I've long since given up on the notion that my personal preference for something is an adequate guide to its general received perception of quality: back in my filmmaking days, I sat on a festival jury that bestowed a prize on a short that was at the absolute bottom of my ranking list... and that film wound up winning the Oscar for Best Doc Short the following year. So, yeah, I'm really a terrible judge of such matters, and totally need the crutch.
Animated short was the one pick I got wrong last year (I rarely win our Oscar pool due to some aspirational picks or a stubborn unwillingness to pick some films despite the likelihood of their win) and hoping these reviews/recommendations can fix that (and allow me to go back to missing many other categories). I’ll definitely seek some of these out (I’ve only seen My Year of Dicks and thought it was pretty great).
I haven't seen any of these, but I'm surprised by how many seem to suck. There are so many shorts in the mix each year, and unlike features they are rarely propelled by external factors (box office clout, politics around personnel, etc.). Why can't they just nominate 5 of the many great shorts in every category?
Feb 28, 2023·edited Feb 28, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias
“Boy &c.” was utterly grueling watching for me, but at the freeze frame after the boy was thrown from the horse shifted something in the theater. *Wouldn’t it be great if it ended here?* A couple of us laughed. Each succeeding trite lesson was met with laughter. The big twist with one of the animals brought the house down. Then the credits rolled and we saw who produced and started in the thing—a chorus of “huh?” “what?” “the hell?” and “no way!”
The short was awful, but it was a pretty fun communal theater experience.
I'm blown away by these reports of theater revolts over this short, which is so damn pedigreed. I thought maybe I just had a low tolerance for schmaltz, but maybe I'm overrating it somehow!
I wish Netflix or HBO Max or any of the streamers would show these so we can see them from home. I've seen the animated shorts at the IFC in NYC, but that was many years ago...I would also happily pay if ShortsTV would do an ondemand thing. Oh well -- maybe it'll happen one day.
If it’s any consolation, two of the docs (Elephant Whisperers, Martha Mitchell Effect) are Netflix productions and are streaming. Also The Boy, The Mole... is on Apple TV+ and I think Le Pupille is on Disney+.
The plot description of “Night Ride” is highly reminiscent of Buñuel’s Illusion Travels by Streetcar, one of the comedies he made during his Mexican period. It’s been ages since I saw it, but the last phrase I would use to describe it is “disappointingly earnest.”
Scott, you've got some great lines in here but "Ever wonder what it would be like if Michael Apted’s Up series was only about one person, was half an hour long, and totally sucked?"
Seconding the comments about the entire theater hating The Boy etc. I despised that one and the rest of my theater felt the same way. My favorite was My Year of Dicks but honestly we may just have been laughing more because it showed directly after The Boy and we were all so relieved that it was over....
Hah, just catching up on the beating The Boy... is taking here after hearing that friend hate it too. I totally get that, I probably wouldn’t have liked it without a personal connection. My mom got the book shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer in late 19/early 20 and found solace in it, and we watched the short on Christmas 2022 as a family with her fully in remission. I won’t be mad at it winning.
Honestly can't wait for which actor has to say "My Year of Dicks" during the Oscar ceremony when reading the list of nominees, absolutely worth these being given out on air just for that moment.
I go to the animated shorts every year in the theater -- kinda nice to be able to see a whole category in ~90 minutes, would recommend. This year felt weak, and The Boy, The Mole... was easily the worst of the bunch; you could practically hear the theater groan after hearing lines like "what's the bravest thing you've ever done? *Ask for help*". Thirty minutes of Hallmark sympathy card punchlines read by Idris Elba, Gabriel Byrne, and Tom Hollander -- sadly, it's total Oscars-bait. Ice Merchants and An Ostrich were excellent and are absolutely worth a watch.
My parents gave me the book The Boy, The Mole, etc etc during the pandemic to improve my spirits. I remember the gesture when I want to draw strength, because actually reading it makes me want to plunge my head into an icy river.
I love the pile-on this thing is getting here, though you'd all going to feel bad when these characters save you from drowning in a river.
Loved "Le Pupille." Watched it over Christmas break with Donna and Ash and we all dug it (after I turned off the abysmal English dub and switched over to the original Italian). It was Donna's first encounter with Rohrwacher and she liked it so much that she ended up showing "Happy As Lazzaro" in her film class this semester. (About half the students loved it; the other half were utterly baffled.)
Walking out I said it felt weird that the front runner was the one with big names (Cuaron) and the biggest studio behind it, but the filmmaking is undeniable. So many beautiful flashes and lovely naturalism mixed in. Like finding an old overlooked classic. Sometimes the big fish gets it right.
I just want to make sure: Flying Sailor is inspired by but not an actual story of the Halifax Explosion, correct? That's one of my historical...obsessions really, doesn't come up terribly often.
It's like 90% just a fat naked guy flying through the air and seeing snippets of his life flash before his eyes, the historical event as far as I could tell was mostly incidental.
That's what I thought based on Scott's wording (well, the naked part is news but we'll move past that). Thank you!
Agree with the predictions though Pam was and probably is one of the most naturally funny people I've ever met and it was never a surprise she moved on from Austin and found success. My hope is she takes down Godzilla.
"How Do You Measure a Year?" sounds like the "Up" series crossed with the same-question conceit of Kieślowski's "Talking Heads."
My dumb trick for the short film categories in Oscar pools is to Google each title and see what comes up with the most number of hits. Sometimes I factor in if the subject matter is a hot topic, or if the filmmaker is a known commodity in some form or fashion. I've long since given up on the notion that my personal preference for something is an adequate guide to its general received perception of quality: back in my filmmaking days, I sat on a festival jury that bestowed a prize on a short that was at the absolute bottom of my ranking list... and that film wound up winning the Oscar for Best Doc Short the following year. So, yeah, I'm really a terrible judge of such matters, and totally need the crutch.
Animated short was the one pick I got wrong last year (I rarely win our Oscar pool due to some aspirational picks or a stubborn unwillingness to pick some films despite the likelihood of their win) and hoping these reviews/recommendations can fix that (and allow me to go back to missing many other categories). I’ll definitely seek some of these out (I’ve only seen My Year of Dicks and thought it was pretty great).
I felt kind of like a big meanie for dissing "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse" after seeing it. So I'm relieved to know I'm not alone.
I haven't seen any of these, but I'm surprised by how many seem to suck. There are so many shorts in the mix each year, and unlike features they are rarely propelled by external factors (box office clout, politics around personnel, etc.). Why can't they just nominate 5 of the many great shorts in every category?
“Boy &c.” was utterly grueling watching for me, but at the freeze frame after the boy was thrown from the horse shifted something in the theater. *Wouldn’t it be great if it ended here?* A couple of us laughed. Each succeeding trite lesson was met with laughter. The big twist with one of the animals brought the house down. Then the credits rolled and we saw who produced and started in the thing—a chorus of “huh?” “what?” “the hell?” and “no way!”
The short was awful, but it was a pretty fun communal theater experience.
I'm blown away by these reports of theater revolts over this short, which is so damn pedigreed. I thought maybe I just had a low tolerance for schmaltz, but maybe I'm overrating it somehow!
I wish Netflix or HBO Max or any of the streamers would show these so we can see them from home. I've seen the animated shorts at the IFC in NYC, but that was many years ago...I would also happily pay if ShortsTV would do an ondemand thing. Oh well -- maybe it'll happen one day.
If it’s any consolation, two of the docs (Elephant Whisperers, Martha Mitchell Effect) are Netflix productions and are streaming. Also The Boy, The Mole... is on Apple TV+ and I think Le Pupille is on Disney+.
Thank you! I'll take what I can get...
My Year of Dicks is on both Hulu and Vimeo, and An Ostrich is on Vimeo. I believe the shorts produced by the New Yorker are on their YouTube channel.
The plot description of “Night Ride” is highly reminiscent of Buñuel’s Illusion Travels by Streetcar, one of the comedies he made during his Mexican period. It’s been ages since I saw it, but the last phrase I would use to describe it is “disappointingly earnest.”
Scott, you've got some great lines in here but "Ever wonder what it would be like if Michael Apted’s Up series was only about one person, was half an hour long, and totally sucked?"
is a total burn... ouch
Thank you! I aim to please.
Seconding the comments about the entire theater hating The Boy etc. I despised that one and the rest of my theater felt the same way. My favorite was My Year of Dicks but honestly we may just have been laughing more because it showed directly after The Boy and we were all so relieved that it was over....
People are okay sometimes.
AN Irish Goodbye sounds like a great setup for a student film, honestly. but maybe not for an Oscar
Hah, just catching up on the beating The Boy... is taking here after hearing that friend hate it too. I totally get that, I probably wouldn’t have liked it without a personal connection. My mom got the book shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer in late 19/early 20 and found solace in it, and we watched the short on Christmas 2022 as a family with her fully in remission. I won’t be mad at it winning.