One of the joys of living in the West Village is the various art houses, cinemas, jazz clubs and comedy clubs within a stones throw.
I was heading home on Friday and I stopped in at our local IFC center on our block. I was checking the listings to find anything good for the weekend. I noticed opening tonight was the Academy Award Animated and Live Action Shorts for 2008. It was starting in five minutes. I bought one ticket and headed in.
I have never actually seen Shorts listed at theaters, although I am a big fan. My question is who actually ever sees these things besides the Academy?? This was the first year the Academy paired with Target and Magnolia productions issued a somewhat wide release of these films.
I sat through the entire thing with my eyes glued to the screen. I was amazed. They were all truly unbelievable and all… foreign. Not one of the 10 nominated shorts this year is from America. There is even a live action short about a Tonto women that is Canadian! They were quirky, funny, ingenious and uniquely un-American.
Here are a few of my favorites.
Animated:
“My Love” A Russian short by Aleksandr Petrov. It’s a hand-drawn pastel animation depicting 19th century Russia. It was wildly imaginative and told a beautiful story of a Boy that is love torn. The picture moved as is you were watching a painting come to life. By color and hard strokes you literally felt every emotion that the hormonal boy passed through. It was a journey that made me actually sway in my seat at times. This is the winner if my vote counted.
“Madame Tutli Putli,” This was a stop motion animated film from Canada. It was about a hellish night one middle-aged woman spent on a train. It was sarcastic, quirky and over the top. The characters were all a bit disturbing but that could be attributed to my genuine fear of moving dolls. I didn’t exactly understand the storyline at the end but I could relate to the overall drudgery of travel, which was uniquely represented. No Disney story here.
“Even Pigeons Go to Heaven” An animated short from France about a priest that tries to talk a dying man into buying a machine that will take him to heaven. The digital animation was unbelievable. It was very fun to watch and you couldn’t help but fall in love with the old man who has his own interpretation of heaven.
And my honorable mentions go to “I Met the Walrus”, a Canadian animated illustration about a brief interview with John Lennon on Peace. It was a neat short on a topic that still feels politically fueled today. And last and probably least was “Peter and the Wolf.” The stop animation was great. I thought it was a bit long in spots.
I wasn’t over the top excited about all the Live Actions shorts so much so that I am only going to mention two here.
The one worth the almost 42 minutes to tell the story is the Danish (not so) short, “At Night” about three young women dealing with cancer. Bring the tissues. It is a tearjerker. A heavy topic covered very eloquently by Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth. I think this one may be favored at the awards due to its compelling nature.
If it was left up to me I would pick the loveable Belgian “Tanghi Argentini.” It was short and sweet. It did exactly what I want a short to do. Make me laugh. I loved it. It was about internet dating. It was very well written and it speaks volumes that I would probably youtube this right now. Right now. Unless of course you are finding someone to tango with right now.
I was heading home on Friday and I stopped in at our local IFC center on our block. I was checking the listings to find anything good for the weekend. I noticed opening tonight was the Academy Award Animated and Live Action Shorts for 2008. It was starting in five minutes. I bought one ticket and headed in.
I have never actually seen Shorts listed at theaters, although I am a big fan. My question is who actually ever sees these things besides the Academy?? This was the first year the Academy paired with Target and Magnolia productions issued a somewhat wide release of these films.
I sat through the entire thing with my eyes glued to the screen. I was amazed. They were all truly unbelievable and all… foreign. Not one of the 10 nominated shorts this year is from America. There is even a live action short about a Tonto women that is Canadian! They were quirky, funny, ingenious and uniquely un-American.
Here are a few of my favorites.
Animated:
“My Love” A Russian short by Aleksandr Petrov. It’s a hand-drawn pastel animation depicting 19th century Russia. It was wildly imaginative and told a beautiful story of a Boy that is love torn. The picture moved as is you were watching a painting come to life. By color and hard strokes you literally felt every emotion that the hormonal boy passed through. It was a journey that made me actually sway in my seat at times. This is the winner if my vote counted.
“Madame Tutli Putli,” This was a stop motion animated film from Canada. It was about a hellish night one middle-aged woman spent on a train. It was sarcastic, quirky and over the top. The characters were all a bit disturbing but that could be attributed to my genuine fear of moving dolls. I didn’t exactly understand the storyline at the end but I could relate to the overall drudgery of travel, which was uniquely represented. No Disney story here.
“Even Pigeons Go to Heaven” An animated short from France about a priest that tries to talk a dying man into buying a machine that will take him to heaven. The digital animation was unbelievable. It was very fun to watch and you couldn’t help but fall in love with the old man who has his own interpretation of heaven.
And my honorable mentions go to “I Met the Walrus”, a Canadian animated illustration about a brief interview with John Lennon on Peace. It was a neat short on a topic that still feels politically fueled today. And last and probably least was “Peter and the Wolf.” The stop animation was great. I thought it was a bit long in spots.
I wasn’t over the top excited about all the Live Actions shorts so much so that I am only going to mention two here.
The one worth the almost 42 minutes to tell the story is the Danish (not so) short, “At Night” about three young women dealing with cancer. Bring the tissues. It is a tearjerker. A heavy topic covered very eloquently by Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth. I think this one may be favored at the awards due to its compelling nature.
If it was left up to me I would pick the loveable Belgian “Tanghi Argentini.” It was short and sweet. It did exactly what I want a short to do. Make me laugh. I loved it. It was about internet dating. It was very well written and it speaks volumes that I would probably youtube this right now. Right now. Unless of course you are finding someone to tango with right now.
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