Filing this one as another Oscar film encouraging me to learn more about events I know nothing about, in this instance the Kosovo War. The film centers on the story of two school-aged friends and their experiences with a handful of Serbian soldiers. It’s rather manipulative and heavy-handed, but sadly many nominated short films are.
Oscar Nomination: Best Short Film, Live Action
This movie is hard to write about. The atrocities committed by American soldiers sanctioned by the government, particularly during the War on Terror, is both frightening and unsurprising. There’s an incredible sadness for anyone who finds themselves in the crosshairs and helplessness to do anything about it. The world needs to be better.
Oscar Win: Best Documentary, Features
Loaded up with maybe all of her earthly possessions, a woman boards a train. And that’s about the last of what I understood was going on in this story. That experience seems to be the same for the woman as well. The animation is fascinating and full of small details.
Oscar Nomination: Best Short Film, Animated
Two Oscar categories take me on journeys that I would probably not partake without my commitment to Oscar watching: documentaries and foreign films. Without documentaries, I would not have learned about the life of Paul Pena, the blind blues musician best known for writing “Jet Airliner”, nor the existence of Tannu Tuva, Richard Feynman’s slight obsession with it, and the culture of Tuvan throat singing. There’s a bit of this that feels like watching people’s travel videos, but it’s still an interesting journey. I took away from it a new appreciation of artists and ways of paying tribute to others’ cultures. 
Oscar Nomination: Best Documentary, Features
Evelyn Hooker’s life is rather fascinating. Encouraged by her mother to pursue education, she pursued her PhD despite gender discrimination. As a teacher, she was befriended by a gay student who encouraged her to study homosexuality, leading to the ‘unsurprising to us in modern times’ conclusion that there is no mental distinction between hetero and homosexuals. I think it’s important for people to know her name and of her work even if the documentary is a bit by-the-book and dry.
Oscar Nomination: Best Documentary, Features
I like the animation style, but this felt long for a 15 minute short. I did learn about remittance men and how this particular man (travelling from England to Albert in the early 1900s) could be compared to a comet. I also tend to forget that Canada has its own cowboy culture similar to the US.
Oscar Nomination: Best Short Film, Animated
Just another one of many interchangeable John Wayne westerns. There’s an odd contradiction that the film treats the Apache somewhat respectfully while also shrugging its shoulders at their foregone demise. Geraldine Page’s character was much more interesting than anything Wayne was offering, a tough woman who knew what her expected place in society was but also knew the realities of the man she was married to and the situation she was left with.
Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Perhaps confusing this with the 1950 film of the same name, I really expected this to be an American Western. Instead this is a flick about a family of Australian sheep drovers in the 1920s. I’m not so sure what to think about the unevenness in the accents of Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, but they do have a lot of chemistry as the married couple. The story itself is an inoffensive romp where the couple tries to come to a compromise when one partner wants to settle down while the other experiences wanderlust. Amongst the new friends they meet along the way are characters played wonderfully by Peter Ustinov and Glynis Johns. 
Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
That title is a clunker; I forget what movie it’s referring to every time I read it. It’s odd to say, but maybe I’m too young to really feel shock and surprise over discussions of people’s sex lives. Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel play college roommates who spend 25 years treating women awfully and talking to each other about it. Not surprisingly, their characters are incredibly dislikable. The women on the other hand are interesting characters and played well by the likes of Candace Bergen, Ann-Margaret, Carol Kane, and Rita Moreno.
Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role
I’ve been intrigued by this since it won its Oscar. I’m glad I was able to catch it when I briefly had HBO access. Following the experiences of workers at the Veterans Crisis Line, it can be a depressing and intense watch, but these people are heroes every day they answer those phones. If the United States is going to be sending its people to fight all over the world, we need to be better to our soldiers when they come back and offer more support to those trying to help them.
Oscar Win: Best Documentary, Short Subject