Category: Short Film

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Living with AIDS (1988)

A bonus feature to the An Early Frost DVD, this short documentary chronicles the last months of Todd Coleman, a 21 year old man living with AIDS and those who cared for him in various capacities toward the end of his life. It’s sobering to be reminded how, especially early in the epidemic, the simple gift of loving touch was denied to people who were dying and how necessary such services were. The one quote that stayed with me came from his older lover describing how Todd didn’t quite understand the type of love that would have someone stick around when sex more or less went away because he was too young to have experienced love beyond sex. So many, many young men never did get that experience.

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School for Postmen (1946)/Forza Bastia (1978)/Evening Classes (1967)

I’m not sure why I checked out the disc of Tati shorts over the other two feature films I haven’t seen yet, but I think it might have been because of this short. There are a lot of cute sketches here from the training of the postmen in order to cut 25 minutes off their routes to the delivery of the various letters. It’s interesting to see Tati as a character other than Monsieur Hulot and I’m looking forward to seeing the feature length Jour de Fête.

I also watched two other shorts in the set. Forza Bastia was the only other short directed by Tati. It is entirely just footage of soccer fans before, during, and immediately after a 1978 match that ends in a tie. It had been shelved until 2002 and I’m not sure why anyone felt the need to dig it out. I admit to fastforwarding the footage. The other, Evening Classes, was filmed at the time of Playtime. Directed by one of the assistant directors of that film, this waivers between being a comedic sketch of Tati teaching an acting class and him actually teaching comedic techniques.

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A Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966)/Anna & Bella (1984)

Two more unconnected Oscar shorts: I love the music of Herb Alpert. It never fails to put me in a better mood. The short is essentially two animated music videos of Alpert hits: Spanish Flea and Tijuana Taxi. The animation is very rough, but I do love the splashes of color particularly in Tijuana Taxi. Spanish Flea is possibly the stronger of the two simply for having an easy narrative.   Musical

Having a somewhat Disney-esque animation style, Anna & Bella is a tender story of sisterhood. The two titled sisters are looking through a photo album together, reminiscing on the lives they shared. It doesn’t shy from highlighting the good and the bad and is just a sweet and beautiful look at their relationship.

Oscar Wins: Best Short Subject, Cartoons (A Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Double Feature); Best Short Film, Animated (Anna & Bella)

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New Boy (2007)

This movie is so trite and awful I don’t really want to comment on it. A young African transfer student is bullied on his first day of school and experiences flashbacks regarding a harrowing experience he had back home. In the end, he bonds with his bullies because they are all subjected to the idiocy of their incompetent teacher. Oscar bait for short films seems to concentrate too hard on horrible takes on social issues. At least there are occasional good ones to make it worthwhile.

Oscar Nomination: Best Short Film, Live Action

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Destino (2003)

I didn’t know this existed until it was randomly suggested as a More Like This on imdb. Originally conceived as a collaboration by Walt Disney and Salvador Dali in the 1940s, it was shelved until Roy E. Disney brought it back to life while working on Fantasia 2000. It’s a wonderful blending of the two artists’ works hauntingly accompanied by the singing voice of Dora Luz. There is a bit of me that wishes it had been completed 75 years ago to fully realize the original intentions, but it’s still a beautiful piece.

Oscar Nomination: Best Short Film, Animated

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Evolution (1971)/The Door (2008)

A little blogging economy here, covering two different shorts from disparate categories. The animation on Evolution, a short film portraying evolution from primordial soup to space travel days, is cute. The creature that first finds its way onto land looks a bit like Sonny the Cuckoo Bird. It’s at that point in the short that the creatures get a bit more fantastic and the females are all strangely depicted with large breasts. It’s also at that point where it loses me and my interest.

The Door is set in the days following the Chernobyl disaster. It’s a powerful tale that tells one story of residents living in the exclusion zone who were directly affected by the meltdown. It makes economical use of its under 20 minute runtime to portray a complete and complex story.

Oscar Nominations: Best Short Subject, Animated Films (Evolution); Best Short Film, Live Action (The Door)

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Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (2008)

Granny tries to keep it real by infusing the story of Sleeping Beauty with tales of ageism and unrealistic beauty standards. Unfortunately, such a tale frightens the young listener and the message is lost. The utilization of two different animation styles between the storyteller and the actual store was neat.

Oscar Nomination: Best Short Film, Animated

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More About Nostradamus (1941)/Penny Wisdom (1937)

Here I go again combining two short film Oscar nominations together. I highly doubt either of these would ever be considered for nominations in modern times, but we also don’t get to see shorts like these to watch before each movie anymore either. More About Nostradamus is a sequel of sorts to 1938’s Nostradamus focusing on various predictions that could be construed as relating to World War II, making it an odd propaganda piece as well.

Penny Wisdom is a Pete Smith-narrated short about a stupid housewife (this is reiterated multiple times) who is a failure at cooking dinner, so help in the form of advice columnist Penny Prudence saves the day. There are at least a couple of interesting home economics tips thrown in for good measure.

Oscar Nomination: Best Short Subject, One-reel (More About Nostradamus)

Oscar Win: Best Short Subject, Color (Penny Wisdom)

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Buster Keaton: The Short Film Collection (1920-1923)

I didn’t want to fill the blog with individual reviews for each of the nineteen films from this collection, but I also didn’t want to completely ignore them either, especially as a way for me to remember each one I’ve watched. There’s another earlier collection that I also intend to watch, though they mostly contain works starring Fatty Arbuckle who has thus far not impressed me. To see the reviews of this set, click the title link.

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Feeling Through (2019)

Much better than my previous Oscar short watch, Feeling Through tells the story of a homeless young man who encounters a DeafBlind man needing assistance one night. I appreciate how the streets visually change from when the young man is safe with friends to when he’s alone trying to find a place to stay. Those struggles are nicely juxtaposed to the struggle the DeafBlind man experiences trying to get himself home safely.

Oscar Nomination: Best Live Action Short Film

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