The long and short of Oscar shorts by Bill Kay

I went to a movie event this week that is growing in importance and could rival the main Oscars night within a few years. It's the Academy of Motion Pictures' annual presentation of the films nominated for the two shorts categories - animated and live action.
At one time overlooked as a geeks' backwater, the short films (defined by the Academy as under 40 minutes) are becoming more and more popular. I am not sure why this is, except that a virtuous circle seems to be operating: as better directors make shorts, more people want to see them. But it's not clear where the original impetus came from, other than some directors treating this category as a stepping stone to full-length movies.
Jon Bloom, the Academy governor in charge of this category, suggested that more directors welcome the freedom of being creative without having to accept the discipline of the box office. These films are usually financed by benefactors of one sort or another, for the public good.
But that is all by way of background. What matters is what gets on to the screen.
This is my second year and this week's were every bit as good as those of a year ago. They are international, quirky, funny, sad, dramatic and in some cases made a profound point. So, compared to watching one or two full-length films, ten shorts are emotionally much more demanding and fulfilling.
Here is a brief summary of the ten. Sit back and enjoy.

ANIMATION
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Despite the French title, this is a Japanese film which definitely falls into the 'quirky' slot. It's about a man who lives in what appears to be a lighthouse, in the middle of a sea. As the water rises, he has to build a higher, smaller floor in which to live. Then he acquires a diving suit and dives right down to the seabed and we see his life history down through all his previous homes. Didn't do much for me, a little too quirky maybe.
Lavatory - Lovestory
A Russian entry, about a female lavatory attendant who is left flowers by a mystery admirer/customer who eventually reveals himself. (It is the custom in European public toilets, to have women attendants for both sexes) The form is simple cartoon line drawing and it is in places quite funny, charming, touching.
Oktapodi
A French film with a strong if simple plot. A man in a Greek seaside village buys an octopus and gets in his van to drive home. He doesn't know that the octopus has a mate who does not want to be separated from the one that has been bought. The animation is hilarious as the van clatters down steps and the octopusses flit from swimming pool to swimming pool. It's a great chase movie with wonderful facial expressions.
Presto
This has the stamp of Disney and Pixar all over it. Very professional but somehow not as personal as the first three - not that they were amateurish, just not hammered out of a major corporation. It's about a magician and his rabbit. The magician denies the rabbit a carrot before the show and then exploits the magician's limitations on-stage through a series of surreal revenges. It is funny, but has much more of the feel of what you get from watching any other Disney animation.
This Way Up
OK, I'll admit I'm biased. This is the British entry and the wacky humour was much more to my taste. It's about two undertakers taking a coffin to a graveyard and all the obstacles put in their way, from an enormous boulder to falling off a cliff. Very professionally animated and drawn.

All the animations except for the first played for laughs - and got them. I think the Oscar will be between the last two. Much as I'd like This Way Up to get it, my bet is that Presto will win as a consolation prize for Pixar's Wall-e being overlooked in the main Best Picture category. That's the way it often works round here.
(I was wrong. The Oscar went to La Maison en Petits Cubes).

LIVE ACTION
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
This runs 30 minutes and is a bit like a TV drama. Security guard fancies sales assistant in the shop where he works, unbeknownst to her he sees her brother being beaten to death on a train and does nothing about it and they get together. OK, but nothing special.

Manon on the Asphalt
A female cyclist is killed in an accident and we see her life flashing past her. This didn't leave much impression on me either.

New Boy
An Irish film about a 10-year-old black boy's first day in an Irish school - how he is teased, makes an enemy and befriends his enemy as schoolkids do. It's well-made, though the teacher comes across as a bit lame. The kids are engaging, though, and play their roles well. It packs a lot into 11 minutes.

The Pig
A real contender, as far as I'm concerned. It's about an elderly man who goes into hospital and likes the picture of a pig on his bedroom wall. Then the bedroom is divided to make room for a Muslim patient. His family take down the picture, and another one drawn by the first man. It then becomes a classic confrontation of two conflicting priorities and why either should win. Very well argued, showing how this sort of dispute is futile.

Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Another strong film, basically a 14-minute version of Schindler's List. Two boys play the piano together, one Aryan and the other Jewish. The Jewish family are to be taken to a concentration camp but they tell their son it is Toyland - so his friend wants to come too.

It's pure coincidence, but again I think the last two were the best. Given Hollywood's predeliction for anti-Nazi films, Toyland may take it. I liked The Pig, though.
(I was right - Toyland did win)

I am grateful to Will Ryan, a member of the Academy and voter in the Oscar process, for giving me a valuable insight into the thinking behind the shorts:
'Your predictions of what may actually win are based on how "Hollywood" and "the Academy" voters may act. Luckily, the short films and documentaries (short and long) are the only categories wherein the voters are limited to people who have actually seen all the films nominated in each of those categories, with IDs shown to Pricewaterhouse Coopers personnel and Academy attendants who verify your identity simultaneously at the special screenings. We are told not to discuss our opinions with other voters. Because of these strictures, I believe the results in these categories are the most meaningful of all the Academy Award categories. We are uninfluenced by trade ads, campaigns, etc. In other categories, e.g., Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Sound Editing, etc. nobody verifies whether the voter has actually SEEN all the nominated films (or ANY of them, for that matter), whether the voter is actually voting or letting his secretary DingDong or her idiot cousin Kuku fill out the form, whether the voter is deaf or blind or capable, etc. These short film (and doc feature) categories are oft considered the "wild cards" for predictors, though most people don't realise exactly why. Granted, we voters DO work in "Hollywood" and ARE members of the "Academy", but you get a lot of non-studio-ish, independent types attracted to these screenings (like wacky artist/animators and weird independent film-makers), and the voting reflects that more eccentric frame of mind. Yep, there is that one Pixar short this year, and there could be Disney/Pixar block-voting (consciously or not), but each of the five animated nominees have received votes from people I've spoken with since voting closed - and that's only about 5 or 6 people in total I've spoken with on the subject.'
It's good to know that these categories are freer of Hollywood politics than those for the mainstream awards. I'll be delighted if one or more of the more offbeat entries wins an Oscar on Sunday, as that will only encourage the growth of the shorts.
Another friend, the worldly-wise Ian Whitcomb, makes the very cogent point that it is hard to see shorts breaking through the current rigid distribution system sufficiently to be shown in the big cinema chains. But it will be an achievement for them to be shown in indie houses or clubs such as American Cinematheque. Shorts are also very well suited to television or the internet, where the audience for filmed drama is growing rapidly. And, to be fair to the big chains, they can be persuaded to show small-budget movies - Little Miss Sunshine, Blair Witch Project - if they get the right backing. The fact that Fox, Warner and others have specialist brands shows that they are alive to the possibilities if the audience is there. I know that's a chicken-and-egg dilemma, but we are seeing rising demand for shorts and it is not beyond the wit of the cinemas or big studios to come up with a suitable package or framework. An awards evening like last Tuesday is inevitably going to be showing a random collection, but if the shorts culture takes off there is no reason why a cinema couldn't put together a couple of hours of shorts on a particular theme such as spurned love, sci-fi or spectacular failures. For one thing, it would be an inexpensive way for the studios to try out promising people in almost any movie role from directing to a walk-on part.