This year’s
Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Short Film were a less diverse crop of
offerings, particularly compared with last year’s group, which represented at
least four different countries and included at least as many different
animation styles. The five films listed below are impressive in their own
rights, but in many ways come up short; the intense conflicts and expressive
brilliance defining the best animated
short films were not as well represented as they could have been, resulting in
a somewhat more lackluster category for the 89th Academy Awards.
This is not,
however, to suggest that these are terrible films – far from it. The Oscar
winner for this year, Piper, in
particular is a wonderful work and warrants its accolades, as do all of the
films on this list for one reason or another.
These were
the films chosen to represent the best of the best by the Academy this year, in
alphabetical order.
Blind Vaysha – Canada, Theodore Ushev
A stunning
offering from the National Film Board of Canada, this tale of a girl born with
eyes that can see only the past and future swirls through the harsh lines of
animation reminiscent of woodcarvings – quite fittingly, as Ushev’s primary
inspiration for the film’s style came in the form of medieval drawing styles.
Kottarashky’s beautiful Bulgarian music provides a warm backdrop set against
the morphing sketches, weaving the sorrowful story of a girl who cannot live in
the present and thus despairs at any hope of a life in which she can be truly
happy.
Borrowed Time – USA, Andrew Coats, Lou Hamou-Lhadj
With its
seven-minute running time and limited dialogue, Borrowed Time is a heart-wrenching punch to the gut. On a windswept
Western plateau, a sheriff’s repressed memories of a terrible accident during
his youth for which he blames himself come rushing back to haunt him as he
surveys the skeletal remains of the scene. Standing at the edge of the cliff,
both metaphorically and literally, he struggles to overcome his pervading grief
and lifelong guilt. Artfully animated by Pixar artists, this CGI masterpiece
wastes no time on glib exposition and hurtles us right into the bones of the
story.
Pear Cider and Cigarettes – Canada / UK, Robert Valley
The story of
director Robert Valley’s troubled friend Techno Stypes and his final days is a
frank depiction of alcoholism, drug use, and razor-edged adrenaline addiction
that could have been truly remarkable, had it chosen to open itself up to more
empathy within its own narrative. It remains so hyper-focused on the character of “Techno” – reading almost
like a bullet list of his mistakes and poor life choices – that it doesn’t
explore too deeply the narrator’s feelings, and suffers as a result. Depictions
of drugs and sex don’t make an animated film sophisticated – solid narratives
and bold art direction do; Pear Cider and
Cigarettes lacks the former as it plays too loosely with the latter. Its
choppy, graphic-novel style animation might have worked brilliantly to its
advantage with sharper storytelling, but here it manifests simply as jerky, and
overwrought with repetition.
Pearl – USA, Patrick Osborne
There is a
sentimentality to this film which is best expressed in its music – the song
shared by its titular character and her unnamed father is key to understanding
its themes of connectivity and dreaming big. Its characters, however, feel
hollow and underdeveloped; even though the mostly visual narrative works on a
certain level, there isn’t really much of a plot or a chance for us to form
feelings for what happens to Pearl and her dad across their journey. The
animation itself is almost too clean and smooth – in fact, it is the first
VR-film to be nominated for an Academy Award – which makes even its best visual
elements a distraction, when they should be an advantage.
Piper – USA, Alan Barillaro
Adorably
starring a tiny fluffball sandpiper chick learning to forage for food for the
first time, this Pixar short proves that, even in microcosm, the studio has a
rich understanding of quality storytelling. Every emotion the ‘piper chick
experiences, we also experience – from its floofy indignation at having to find
its own food, to its terror at being nearly swept to sea when first separated
from its mother. When, at last, the little chick overcomes its fears and bounds
determinedly into the surf, its joy is palpable and real. A well-deserved Oscar
win for a masterful, emotionally incisive short.
Average Score for All Five Films
-Dana Culling