The Long Goodbye (2020)/The Queen of Basketball (2021)

Slowly working through this year’s available-to-me Oscar nominees, I checked out these two that are currently watchable on YouTube. The Long Goodbye was made as an accompaniment to Riz Ahmed’s album of the same name. An extended Muslim family in the United Kingdom is gathered together when their festivities are interrupted by a gang of armed men who force them to the street and the women into unmarked vehicles. Though I found the second part of that a bit heavy handed in its approach, the two together stand in stark contrast to each other. I really enjoyed the third act with Ahmed’s rap providing a powerful finishing statement. 

The Queen of Basketball tells the story of Luisa Harris the first woman officially drafted by the NBA. What could be a fairly straightforward telling of her life from her college basketball career and her time on the Olympic team to her later life as a mother, coach, and teacher is made incredibly delightful and moving by the Harris’s own account of the events. She comes across as a beautiful soul and it’s a shame that she passed before the nominations were announced. 

Oscar Wins: Best Live Action Short Film (The Long Goodbye); Best Documentary Short Subject (The Queen of Basketball)