Meanwhile, the movie, after a very limited theatrical release last year, is available for streaming now on Netflix and perhaps elsewhere, too.
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Showing posts with label 2015 Oscar nominees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015 Oscar nominees. Show all posts
Netflix & Orlando von Einsiedel's VIRUNGA: the Congo and those endangered Mountain Gorillas
Meanwhile, the movie, after a very limited theatrical release last year, is available for streaming now on Netflix and perhaps elsewhere, too.
A final post on those Oscar-nominated short-films: taking a look at the five documentaries
I just spent over half an hour of time (that I should have used writing, designing, and link-finding) searching for any theater showing the documentary portion of this program. I found exactly one: The IFC Center in New York City. There may be more, but I really don't have time to do a longer search. If you know of other theaters showing the docs program, please advise me. Even the Los Angeles area -- Oscar's home -- (not to mention the rest of the country) has elected to show only the animated and live action programs. So much for the documentary format. As ever, it's the movies' poor step-child.
Touting the theatrical release of these films together in one package is not simply misleading; it's more like false advertising. Fortunately, according to the Shorts' web site, together with the theatrical run, the nominated short films will be available on Vimeo On Demand, iTunes® Stores in 54 countries, Amazon Instant Video®, Verizon and will be released across the US on VOD/Pay Per View platforms. I hope the VOD and digital stream modes do better by the documentary section. In any case, here are the five films in the Documentary Shorts category, with their standard information listed first and my "take" on each shown in italics below....
USA / 39 mins; Director: Ellen Goosenberg Kent;
Producer: Dana Perry
This timely documentary spotlights the traumas endured by America’s veterans, as seen through the work of the hotline’s trained responders, who provide immediate intervention and support in hopes of saving the lives of service members.
This fine short doc, from HBO, may seem resolutely non-political, dealing as it does with a crisis hot line for American veterans who need emergency help, usually because of PTSD, but it does not take much reading-between-the-lines to go deeper into things. First of all, The National Suicide Hotline is the only line that Veterans are given to call. (They get to press "1" and maybe go to head of the line?) Rather than concentrating on the vets, whom we don't see, we watch and hear the crisis counselors at work, and these people seem both caring and professional. The statistics we see tell us that Vets are committing suicide at the rate of nearly one per hour! (This means one more will probably have died during the time you take to watch this short.) And this is the best we can do for our Vets? The "talk" here is all, but it is enough to rivet, and we come away from the film with a deeper respect for these workers/responders but much less respect for the country that has betrayed them, and in so many ways. Note: In addition to its theatrical release, if you have HBOGO, the film is currently available there, as well as OnDemand through March 9.
Poland / 40 mins; Director: Aneta Kopacz;
Producer: Adam Slesicki; Production: Wajda Studio
With great visual poetry, 'Joanna' portrays the simple and meaningful moments in the life of her family. Diagnosed with an untreatable illness, Joanna promises her son that she will do her best to live for as long as possible. It is a story of close relationships, tenderness, love and thoughtfulness.
This must-see movie, which unveils itself only slowly, should make a wonderful testament for the boy we meet here as he grows into a man. The testament is from his mother, dying from cancer, and is captured by the filmmaker in a way that is both discreet and hugely moving -- because of the subject and the way it is handled. The boy is clearly too young to fully understand all that is happening and what it will mean. He struggles to get it but is, like all kids, interested in the here and now. Mom asks him a lot of questions that will resonate more as he grows up. These, along with her advice to him, provide a wonderful gift that he will probably treasure forever. My own mother died when I was a very young child. How I would cherish having received something like this from her! Whatever happens on Oscar night, Joanna is a keeper.
Poland / 27 mins; Director: Tomasz Sliwinski;
Production: Warsaw Film School
The film is a personal statement of the director and his wife, who have to deal with a very rare and incurable disease of their newborn child – the Ondine’s Curse (also known as CCHS, congenital central hypoventilation syndrome). People affected with this disease stop breathing during sleep and require lifetime mechanical ventilation on a ventilator.
We've seen a number of movies -- narrative and docs -- that cover parents and their very ill children, but few if any have quite the impact of Our Curse, in which the parents of a near newborn ask, "How do you explain to your child that every night he could die?" The parents themselves made this film, and we see them, often at the end of the day, over a glass of wine, talking to the camera with the little energy they have left. We see the child, too, as he grows a bit, and learn and watch how that ventilation tube must be inserted into the hole provided by the tracheostomy. We also get a glimpse of health care in Poland, maybe not as bad as we might have imagined, but as we also see, every bit as topsy-turvy and unfair as our own.
Mexico / 29 mins; Director: Gabriel Serra Argüello;
Producers: Henner Hofmann, Liliana Pardo, Karla Bukantz
Efrain, aka The Reaper, has worked at a slaughterhouse for 25 years. We will discover his deep relationship with death and his struggle to live.
The most beautifully, elegantly shot of any of the shorts (in any of the divisions), The Reaper also proves to have the most awful of subjects -- the slaughter of cattle, and in particular the man who gives the final death blow to each. You will know within a few frames the kind of artists that made this gorgeous film, even as you wince at what you are seeing. The combination is bold, beautiful, horrifying. We see our subject -- Efrain, the "Reaper" of the title -- at work or at home with his family, where he seems somewhat remote. He explains his job and how he feels about what he does -- "Everyone can kill; it just takes experience" -- and about his view of heaven and hell. The filmmaker keeps the actual deaths a bit distant: Behind a metal plate we see the final death throes of twitching hooves. Then, at last, we're allowed to watch that death blow. When, at the end, you get statistics, if you do the math, you'll learn that Efrain's death count of cattle--he kills around 500 per day--approaches the four million mark.
USA / 20 mins Director/Producer: J. Christian Jensen
Thousands of souls flock to America’s Northern Plains seeking work in the oil fields. "White Earth" is the tale of an oil boom seen through unexpected eyes. Three children and an immigrant mother brave a cruel winter and explore themes of innocence, home and the American Dream.
We've been hearing for some time about the huge migration of workers to North Dakota, due to the influx of oil and the jobs suddenly available in the midst of our country's deep recession. Television news may have covered this to some extent but White Earth is the first documentary I've seen that tackles the subject. It's scattershot, to say the least, but interesting nonetheless, as it shows us a migrant father and son (we hear mostly from the son), a Latin family of five who've come to the area to earn more money and pay off their debt, and finally a young girl -- a native of the area -- who explains that "by the time I'm really old, North Dakota will be back to normal." There is some beautiful scenery, an elegiac musical score, and enough content to at least keep us involved for the 20-minute running time. One wonders what the sudden fall in oil prices is doing to this particular community, which may get "back to normal" a lot sooner than that little girl imagines....
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More Oscar-nominated Short Films: This time it's the five live-action narratives
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM NOMINEES
Synopsis: A young woman waiting at an airport has an unexpected encounter with an arriving passenger.
Countries of origin: France, Israel; 40 minutes; Lang: English, Hebrew
An airport mix-up that jumps off from all those times you've seen people holding up a sign at the arrival gate that reads, Mr. ______, waiting for folk they don't know, Aya combines coincidence with a sudden deliberate action by our title character that results in a lengthy getting-to-know-you conversation in an automobile. Splendidly acted by Israeli Sarah Adler and Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen, and equally well written and directed, this is a stunning little film about connection and roads taken or not. (Among its odd joys is probably the first piano concerto played on a woman's hand and thigh.)
Directors: Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Synopsis: Jamesy and Malachy are presented with two baby chicks to raise by their soft-hearted father. Country of origin: UK; 14 minutes, Language: English
A dip into the past and charm galore is provided by this short that takes place in Belfast, 1978, but instead of tackling the Brits vs the IRA, the movie uses that as a mere backdrop to a story of a kindly dad and the little chicks he gives his two sons. Think of this one as a kind of coming-of-age tale featuring poultry protagonists.
Directors: Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Synopsis: A photographer and his assistant photograph the inhabitants of a remote Tibetan village.
Countries of origin: France, China; 16 minutes; Language: Tibetan
Probably designed to make us forget about China's disgusting incursion into and take-over of Tibet, this odd and funny little film nonetheless works its wonders, as we see a photographer and assistant take various kinds of family photos by changing the backdrop. In the process all kinds of cultural mores surface, while the finale provides a fabulously funny and silent visual joke.
Directors: Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
Synopsis: An Afghan teenager living in a refugee center in Switzerland encounters difficulties wiring money to her family and asks a young Swiss woman for help.
Country of origin: Switzerland; 25 minutes; Language: German
Immigration is as hot-button an issue in Switzerland as anywhere else, so this little short is a welcome reminder of both that subject and also the ever-present one of feminism. A young Afghan, not quite old enough to have a legal ID must get help in order to send off the money she earns to her family. How she does this proves an eye-opening, surprising, and of course moving fable of sisterhood.
Directors: Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Synopsis: A woman working for a crisis center phone line receives a call from a suicidal older man.
Country of origin: UK; 21 minutes; Language: English
The documentary short section, to be covered tomorrow, offers a look a crisis call center for possible suicides, U.S.-veteran variety. This narrative film does something similar -- in a very small British crisis center. But with Sally Hawkins, Jim Broadbent and Edward Hogg in the lead roles, along with a fine script that mixes reality with a final bit of fantasy (or perhaps just drug-induced imagination), this little movie proves exceptionally moving and real.
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Short Film Oscar Nominees, 2015: The five animated short films open theatrically tomorrow
Below are the five nominees for the short animated film award, with their statistics and content information followed by TrustMovies' brief opinion in italics. I'll finish watching the complete three series soon, and my take on the other two -- live action narrative and documentary shorts -- will quickly follow.
Production: Job, Joris & Marieke
When playing a mysterious vinyl single, Pia is suddenly able to travel through her life.
Brevity is not just the soul of wit; here it's the soul of animation, too. In just a couple of minutes, this Dutch wonder packs in an entire life and a ton of humor -- even if it is a bit dark. A Single Life is a sensational treat: fast, funny and amazing. That it is so brief, as well, just makes it all the more wonderful.
Director: Patrick Osborne; Producer: Kristina Reed
A new short from first-time director Patrick Osborne (Head of Animation, “PAPERMAN”) and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Feast is the story of one man’s love life as seen through the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite by bite through the meals they share.
Disney's latest tackles the eating habits of a new puppy in a manner that is by now standard for this acclaimed studio. In other words it's a sentimental delight -- full of the usual anthropomorphization of animals, some first-rate animation, a ton of charm and, yes, just a little predictability, too.
Director: Torill Kove; Producers: Lise Fearnley, Marcy Page;
Production: Mikrofilm AS, in co-production with
the National Film Board of Canada
One summer in mid-’60s Norway, a seven-year-old girl asks her parents if she and her sisters can have a bicycle. Me and My Moulton provides a glimpse of its young protagonist’s thoughts as she struggles with her sense that her family is a little out of sync with what she perceives as “normal”.
Normality, and the need for this among children, is front and center in this Norwegian/Canadian co-production. Narrated by a "middle child," the short is full of envy and "otherness" and is probably the deepest of all the films, if not the lengthiest. It's bright and smart and funny, as it takes us to a place that most of us have been -- but probably not in such an intelligent and clever fashion.
Director: Daisy Jacobs; Producer: Christopher Hees
'You want to put her in a home; you tell her. Tell her now!' hisses one brother to the other. But Mother won't go, and their own lives unravel as she clings on. Innovative life-size animated characters tell the stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly parent.
The darkest of the animated shorts, The Bigger Picture also offers the most innovative blend of animation, as well as the angriest of protagonists. These brothers have (and want to continue) their own lives despite their mother's progress toward dementia and death. It's all told with black humor, anger, and not a little sadness. Excellent.
Directors: Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi;
Production: Tonko House
Telling the tale of a young pig encumbered with an important job, and the meeting of a new classmate who changes everything, The Dam Keeper is a first-time collaboration between some of the most talented artists in animation and made its world premiere as an official selection at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival and is slated to make its US premiere at The New York International Children's Film Festival this spring. Made up of over 8,000 paintings, the film blends traditional hand-drawn animation with lush brush strokes. Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen of television's Forbrydelsen (The Killing) and BBC's Sherlock, narrates.
The most painterly of all the shorts film, this little gem stars a pig as its somewhat compromised hero, with a menagerie of other animals in the supporting roles. The theme here is -- among other things -- bullying, and how the filmmakers combine this with their tale of an unexpected friendship leads to something quite different. As lovely as the film is, an ineffable sadness seems to hang over it. Expect to talk to your children for awhile, post viewing.
Because the program of these five nominated films is so short (around 48 minutes), I believe that the program will include a few other of the shortlisted shorts, bring the total running time to around 75 minutes. In any case, I've seen the other shorts, and while they, too, are good, I think the Academy, in this case, chose wisely regarding these five nominees.
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