Animated Shorts

Yesterday, I went and saw the animated shorts nominated for an Academy Award. I was really jazzed after seeing the live shorts which are all amazing and interesting and somewhat complex. The animated shorts were so not, and I was really disappointed. They were much shorter and also silent. Well, they had sound effects and scores, but there was no dialogue, and as a lover of words and language I was disheartened. However, the shorts did a great job of conveying their meaning through images and music which are after all powerful mediums. After the five nominated, they showed five more shorts which were highly commended animated films though they failed to earn an Oscar nom. I have already discussed my love of the shorts genre, however the animated shorts did not bring it. I understand animation is very complex and hard to do, so some of the shorts were very simple. Others exemplified that the short is a great medium to experiment which ended badly. Anyway, here are the shorts.

The first film showed was "Lavatory - Lovestory" from Russia. It features crude, cartoonish, black and white drawings. The story focuses on an unhappy, single, middle-aged woman who collects the change for the lavatory. If you've never been to Europe then perhaps you don't know that you must pay to use a public lavatory. She sits behind the desk of the men's room and reads her "Happy Woman" newspaper or magazine which show happy couples which only make her more lonely. Suddenly she discovers flowers in the change jar--left by a mysterious man--which surprise, delight, and confuse her until she is quite desperate. Suffice it to say she does get it on in a restroom stall. It was a cute, simple story.

The next short was "Oktapodi" from France but set in Greece. It features two octopi who are tankmates at a shop that sells octopi, ya know for eating, and other seafood creatures. When the girl octopus is purchased (and you can tell she's the girl because she's a pinkish/purplish and the other one is blue), the boy escapes the tank and sets about to free his lover. This all takes place in two minutes by the way. It features sharp computer animation a la Finding Nemo but perhaps it was just the familiar fish story that reminded me of that. Anyway, it was a fun, simple story.

The third short was from Japan though you would never know it from it's original French title "La Maison En Petits Cubes" which was somehow translated into "Pieces of Love." Of the five, this was probably my favorite. It features a man who lives in a house that is largely submerged in water. Indeed, he appears to be the last resident of a city completely submerged. As the water level rises, he simply adds another story or level to the top of his house. When he finds some scuba gear he dives into the submerged stories of his house (and the past), and with each level another memory or life story is presented. It's a wistful tale with a lovely score. The animation takes a great deal from Japanese painting and French impressionism. The watercolors have a smoky and oily quality to them.

The fourth film presented was "This Way Up" from England which was probably the most disturbing. The animation was Burtonesque and features a father and son who set off to bury their wife/mother. When a boulder flattens their hearse, they begin an epic journey to get the coffin, embossed with a large RIP, to the graveyard. However, the coffin takes nearly as much abuse as Addie Bundren's coffin in As I Lay Dying. Once they reach the burial site, a Burtonesque nightmare begins that involves a voyage down the River Styx. If you can't already tell, this is a black comedy. I'm sure this is a strong contender--it's much more interesting than the first two (and the final one), but it's not up my alley.

The final of the Oscar shorts was "Presto" a Disney/Pixar collaboration. It's another cute, straightforward short. The protagonist is a white rabbit who works for a magician, and the rabbit's unhappy because he hasn't eaten. As the magician performs, all the rabbit wants is to eat his carrot and so he sabotages the man's act. This devolves into slapstick humor which delights the magician's audience. In the end the rabbit saves the man's life and gets to eat his carrot. All's well that ends well. Yet another film that was alright but nothing special.

Then the highly commended films began. The first one "John and Karen" was the first to use dialogue. It also focuses on the relationship between a polar bear, John, and a penguin, Karen. As most of you know I do not approve of inter-species relationships. The logistics weird me out. Yesterday it struck me how odd that parents are fine with different species getting it on in cartoons, but heaven forbid PBS shows a lesbian couple on Postcards From Buster. "Skhizein" was an odd and experimental short but interesting...in a disturbing sort of way. It was from France and I blame the existentialists. I really hated the animation of "Hot Dog" and the story too. It also showed the eponymous dog pissing on a fire, and seeing the dog's penis was highly unnerving. "Gopher Broke" is a lame and unforgettable short--and a plot we've all seen a million times. This gopher plots to steal produce and every time he scores, other animals take it away from him which enrage the gopher and feature silly slapstick comedy.

If you were paying attention there is a fifth commended film that I haven't mentioned yet--"Varmints" from England. I am so upset that this wasn't even a nominee because really it should win the damn Oscar. It was the longest of the ten shorts with rich and detailed animation. This one was also silent, but featured such a lovely score. The central character--some sort of varmint--is peacefully studying plants in an unspoiled Arcadia when a massive, black storm fastly approaches. However, this is no ordinary storm, it's millions of varmints raising up a dark city. Like Mordor! As the city is raised, the land is covered in darkness. The city appears to be a Victorian, Industrial Revolution city--dark and filthy complete with trains and smoke stacks. Our poor varmint has exchanged his agricultural roots for the industrial city--how very bildungsroman of him. He continues to study botany as he lives in the city dominated by the rat race, if you'll forgive the pun. However, it becomes very difficult for anything to grow in the pervasive pollution. Soon disturbing white, bulbous orbs appear on buildings which later come to life as UFO's of some sort--flying Jellyfish? dead, white dandelions? I wasn't sure quite what to make of them. Anyway, the film is very interesting and a scathing indictment of our environmental policies. Perhaps it wasn't nominated because it's too political. But it was also the richest and most complex of all the shorts. And it's not even available on iTunes!

On Wednesday I went and the saw The Wrestler because Mickey Rourke has garnered a lot of Oscar buzz. Marissa Tomei is also nominated, but she already has an Oscar that she didn't deserve, so back off Marissa! Anyway, Rourke and Tomei do give great performances, but the one to watch is Evan Rachel Wood (Across the Universe) whom I have loved ever since she appeared on The West Wing years and years ago. Wood gives a phenomenal performance. Why wasn't she nominated? I found parts of The Wrestler very hard to watch--that would be the wrestling part. I have never been into pro-wrestling, and I'm not so much into guys whaling on each other. I can appreciate boxing in movies and stuff, but I don't seek it out. Wrestling on the other hand--I just don't get it at all. Especially since it's more of a stage performance than a fight, though they still get banged up well good. Anyway, the movie was fine but not great. I understand why it wasn't nominated for Best Picture or Best Original Screenplay. And I think I would prefer to see Sean Penn win the Actor for Milk. Of course I still haven't seen Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon (I'm going tonight!) or Richard Jenkins in The Visitor. And I'm rooting for Penelope Cruz to win the Supporting Actress.

Tonight I'm going to go see Frost/Nixon at Brewvies which is Salt Lake's very own cinema pub because who doesn't like to drink beer and eat food while watching a film? And tomorrow between bowling and a Hamlet party, I need to see Revolutionary Road. My mother asked me yesterday if going out to movies was my new daily thing, and I'm like, "Its the OSCARS!" Anyway, once I'm caught up on those two, there will be very few movies I haven't seen. I should go through them! Okay . . . um, The Visitor, Tropic Thunder, Frozen River, the animated films, Australia, all the documentaries, the foreign language films (Waltz With Bashir and The Class come here in the next two weeks!), Hellboy II, Defiance, Iron Man, Happy-Go-Lucky, and In Bruges. That's not too shabby. I'm so excited for Sunday!