75th Annual Academy Awards Short Films; Shorts! Volume 1

Every year we host an Oscar party, and every year we cross off “Short Film (animated),” “Short Film (live action),” and “Documentary Short Subject” from the Oscar ballots before we hand them out, because no one has actually seen any of the nominees. Well, as they say, better nate than lever: 75th Annual Academy Awards Short Films compiles nine of the 10 films in competition in the animated and live action short films categories, including the animated winner “The ChubbChubbs!” (reviewed in VL Online-6/03, and still being sold separately by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment for $9.95), Eric Armstrong's tale of a little alien janitor named Meeper, who encounters a Jar Jar Binks-like character (the film is full of sci-fi characters inspired by Star Wars, Alien, Lost in Space, E.T., etc.) carrying the dire warning that the ChubbChubbs are coming--a message that Meeper, in turn, tries to convey to his employers, with comic results. The other animated nominees included are “Mike's New Car” (USA, the one title viewers are liable to recognize, since it's included on the Monsters Inc. DVD), “Rocks” (Germany), a beautifully-animated parable about a pair of rocks observing the rise and fall of civilization; “Mr. Head” (Japan), an excellent oddball short about a reclusive man with a cherry tree growing out of his head that attracts scads of people; and “The Cathedral” (Poland), an impressive-looking CGI-animated short about a man entering an eerie forest cathedral that looks a lot like a contemporary RPG video game cut-scene. On the live action side, the Oscar-winning “This Charming Man” (Denmark) is indeed a charming piece about a Danish man who learns about both love and discrimination when he assumes the identity of a Pakistani immigrant following a bureaucratic mix-up. The rest of the live action nominees included (the one missing film is “Johnny Flynton” [USA]) are “I'll Wait for the Next One” (France) and “Gridlock” (Belgium), both of which revolve around one-note jokes (but the jokes are good ones); and “Dog” (Australia), a powerful cautionary tale about the fruits of prejudice. As a bonus, the disc also includes an excellent six-minute guide on how to submit short films for Oscar consideration. At $19.99, this collection is a steal. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. Shorts! serves up 15 animated and live-action award-winning film festival shorts (aired at Sundance, Tribeca, etc.), 13 of which hail from either the U.S. or Great Britain. One of the non-English films, Sytske Kok's The Chinese Wall (The Netherlands), a tale about false perceptions in which an elderly woman at a restaurant assesses diners at other tables in a bitter internal monologue (quite inaccurately it turns out), is one of the best, while the other, “John and Mia” (Denmark), a trite, predictable story of an estranged father and daughter, is one of the worst. Of the English-language entries between these two critical poles, the standout is Chris Shepherd's wildly innovative and darkly disturbing “Dad's Dead,” a twisty-turny psychological mindbender that intertwines live action and animation. In fact, on the whole, the animated entries--Sean McBride's illustration of common dream motifs in “Dreamscapes,” Bunny Schendler's bizarre portrait of an isolated agoraphobe in “The World of Interiors,” Gaelle Denis' imaginative ode to insomnia “Fish Never Sleep,” and James Brett's primitive but funny “Earthquake!” (consisting entirely of rubber figures shaking and moaning in quivering voices)--are far more engaging than the live action pieces, many of which have a dour (not to mention derivative) twenty- or thirtysomething self-important angst quality to them. Still, two of the other live action shorts are worth mentioning: Savina Dellicour's “Ready,” starring Imelda Staunton as a woman whose careful plans for a quiet last evening in an upscale hotel (her relatives have all died on the evening of their 57th birthday and she accepts her fate) go somewhat awry, and Philip Powell's “Non-Abductees Anonymous,” a funny spoof about 12-steppers trying to cope with the stigma of never having been abducted. The disc also includes a veritable primer on making shorts, as each of the selections features one or more audio commentaries. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)