Shorts

My friend, Joanna, and I went to the theater on Sunday evening to see the five Oscar-nominated, live-action short films. I saw that they were playing and decided that I wanted to be informed when I watched the Oscars.

Joanna holds an Oscar party every year. And every year all the guests receive a ballot to fill out, indicating who you think the winner will be in each category. I've had some good luck with this over the past couple of years. I usually watch most of the movies up for best picture, and therefore know the actors and actresses as well. But, I've never seen the shorts - live-action or animated. This year I wanted to be able to make a choice based on real, personal belief in what was the best.

The live-action shorts were:

The Confession
"Quiet and sincere 9-year-old Sam is worried about making his first confession. His conscience is clear, therefore he cannot hope for any relief from the experience. He and his friend Jacob decide to remedy that situation, but their initially innocent prank turns unexpectedly tragic."
26 Min.

The Crush
"Ardal Travis is in love. There's just one problem. He's an 8-year-old schoolboy and the object of his affection is his second class teacher, Miss Purdy. But, when her boyfriend arrives on the scene Ardal is heartbroken. His reaction, though, is a little unexpected. He challenges Miss Purdy's boyfriend to a duel. To the death."
15 Min.

God of Love
Lounge-singing darts champion Raymond Goodfellow finds his prayers are answered - literally - when he receives a mysterious package of passion-inducing darts. The cath is that the one woman he loves - Kelly, a drummer in his band - is already in love with Ray's best friend Fozzie, the guitarist in the band. But, when Ray uses the darts in a loony scheme to resolve this strange romantic triangle, he learns a surprising lesson about unrequited love and discovers his own place in the universe. Romance is in the air in this bohemian charmer."
18 Min.

Na Wewe (My pick for the Oscar)
"1994: There is a civil war in Burundi, a small country in central Africe that directly borders Rwanda. When a gang of Hutu rebels attack a minibus, the 'selection' process begins. But who is a Hutu and who is a Tutsi?"
19 Min.

Wish 143
"A fifteen-year-old boy with only months to live is granted one wish from the Dreamscape Charity. But David doesn't want to go to Disneyland or meet Gary Neville; what he really wants is an hour alone with a naked woman."
24 Min.

As I indicated above, I'd like to see Na Wewe (meaning "you too") win. It was the best quality film, with the best actors, and the least contrived script. The Confession was almost there, but some less than stellar acting from the young boy playing Jacob left me dissatisfied. The Crush could have been good, but there was only one good actress in the short, and the others were awful! God of Love...what to say...cute, but worthy of an Oscar? I'm not so sure. And lastly, Wish 143 - completely contrived, and again, only one good actor in the bunch (Jim Carter).

Hopefully on Thursday Joanna and I will be off to the theater again to see the animated shorts. If you'd like to catch them too you can check out this site and find the theaters where they're playing. Happy watching!