Oscar Shorts Week: Part One of Three
2015 Academy Award Nominated Animated Short Films
Sundance Cinemas Screening Room Calendar, January 30-February 12»
This week the Madison Film Forum will discuss the 2015 Oscar-nominated short films, all of which will screen in three separate programs at Sundance Cinemas starting Friday, January 30.
Today: Taylor Hanley on the Animated Short Films
Wednesday: James Kreul on the Live Action Short Films
Thursday: Jake Smith on the Documentary Short Films
UPDATED: The Madfilm Meetup on Tuesday, February 10 will be to see the Animated Short program, reviewed below. More details including Meetup screening time will be posted soon.
A Single Life | Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins, Job Roggeveen | Netherlands | 2014 | 2 min
A Single Life introduces us to Pia, who receives a mysterious vinyl record on her doorstep. When she plays the record she finds that she can travel through time. If she advances in the song slightly, she jumps five minutes into the future. If she skips a little bit further, she jumps to later in her life and sees herself pregnant. By skipping even later in the song, she becomes much older.
Feast | Patrick Osborne | USA | 2014 | 6 min
Feast tells the story of a man’s love life through the eyes of his dog, Winston, as they share their meals together. While the man is single, the dog is given nachos, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs to eat. When the man starts to date, the dog is served healthy foods like brussel sprouts. The dog shows his discontent for the veggies by pouting and whining. Once the woman leaves, Winston gets his junk food back, but he sees how miserable his owner is and so he strives to get the woman back.
Me and My Moulton | Torill Kove | Canada, Norway | 2014 | 14 min
Me and My Moulton describes life in Norway during the mid-60’s told from the perspective of a seven-year-old girl. This short film loosely revolves around three daughters asking their parents for a bike. While they wait for their present, the middle daughter describes the oddities of her parents as she compares them to the ‘normal’ families around them.
Me and My Moulton is very child-like in its story and narration. The perspective accurately depicts innocence of a child, where more complex ideas, like war, is reduced to make-believe play. The film does a great job sticking with the child’s perspective, just letting every thought pass quickly and not over stressing the serious points. This allows the viewer to produce their own interpretation of what the young girl describes. Even though some of the content gets pretty heavy, the plot is told lightly almost as if the seven-year-old doesn’t grasp the weight of everything around her. Additionally, the animation compliments this childish perspective and also the careers of the parents, both being modern architects, with the use of many patterns, colors, and the best part, the trees.
The Bigger Picture | Daisy Jacobs | UK | 2014 | 7 min
The Bigger Picture is the heaviest of the animated short films, depicting the realistic feelings and behaviors of adult children dealing with aging parents. Two brothers argue over how to handle their mother’s deteriorating health, as their own lives are not perfect and as she clings onto life. Though the animation goes beyond realism by portraying inner thoughts and feelings, the basic situation is all too plausible.
The Bigger Picture impresses with its animation style: life-size animation combining paintings, 3D art and stop-motion. I have never seen this type of animation before, and it produces a unique effect as the story becomes subordinate to the style. But the style gives the bare storyline more depth, illustrating the inner psychology of the main character. A character’s need to escape is depicted by his vacuuming everything in his surroundings. Despite every object being either painted on a wall or constructed out of paper mache, the characters and setting seem full of life, making the film more engaging and believable. To learn more about the making of the film, the website Colossall includes a trailer, interviews and videos of the making. The Bigger Picture: Learn More.
The Dam Keeper | Robert Kondo, Dice Tsutsumi | USA | 2014 | 18 min
The Dam Keeper is about a young pig in a futuristic town who holds the important job of keeping the windmill going to blow off poisonous clouds. The pig has to work through the night to keep his town safe, but during the day he is constantly bullied at school. When a new classmate comes to town, it seems the pig has finally found a friend. However, this seemingly simple story takes an unexpected, producing a piece of work that is both dark and touching.
The Dam Keeper was the official selection at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival. The animation is made up of thousands of paintings, all hand-drawn of unique large and lush brushstrokes. The directors, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, are from Pixar and their previous work includes Ice Age and Toy Story 3. Here they have diverted from their more up-beat productions to something without dialogue and without much humor. Here, like in The Bigger Picture, the animation reflects the main character’s inner emotions. However, The Dam Keeper is more dynamic in its story, while still retaining the childlike nature that I personally like to see in animation.
Of these shorts, Feast and The Simple Life will probably be the biggest crowd pleasers. They are short and they are upbeat, and stylistically similar to what is commonly seen in animation today. Though The Single Life was my favorite of the shorts, I would predict that either The Dam Keeper or The Bigger Picture would win the Oscar. The Bigger Picture really diverts from the usual animation styles, and the filmmakers spent a lot of time to achieve a unique effect. The Dam Keeper has a more complex story than the other films, and the filmmakers were very conscious about how they told the story visually and without dialogue. Either of them are likely to be recognized on Oscar night.
Editor’s Note: The Sundance Animation program will also include four shorts that did not make the final nomination list: Sweet Cocoon (France, 6 minutes), Footprints (USA, 4 minutes), Duet (USA, 4 minutes), and Bus Story (Canada, 11 minutes).