Oscar Nominated Shorts (Animated/Live-Action/Doc)

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Tuesday, 28 January 2020 01:46

Written by Gilbert Seah

OSCAR SHORTS 2020

The Oscar shorts are comprised of three separate programs - animation, live action and documentary.  Each is separate admission.   

These are a delight to watch with something new and unexpected around every corner.  The program runs from January the 31st and will be screened exclusively at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto,

Listed are the titles (including country and running times) in each program and below that are capsule review of selected shorts. 

ANIMATED SHORTS (Running Time: 83 minutes)

Hair Love – Matthew A. Cherry, USA, 7 min.

Dcera (Daughter) – Daria Kashcheeva, Czech Republic, 15 min.

Memorable – Bruno Collet, France, 12 min.

Sister – Siqi Song, China/USA, 8 min.

Kitbull – Rosana Sullivan, USA, 9 min.

PLUS A SELECTION OF ADDITIONAL ANIMATED SHORTS:

Henrietta Bulkowski – USA, 16 min. (featuring the voices of Chris Cooper and Ann Dowd!)

The Bird and the Whale – Ireland, 6 min.

Hors Piste – France, 5 min.

LIVE ACTION SHORTS (Running Time: 104 minutes)

A Sister – Delphine Girard, Belgium, 16 min.

Brotherhood – Meryan Joobeur, Tunisia, 25 min.

The Neighbors’ Window – Marshall Curry, USA, 20 min.

Saria – Bryan Buckley, USA, 23 min.

Nefta Football Club – Yves Piat, Tunisia/France, 17 min.

CAPSULE REVIEWS OF SELECTED SHORTS

(More reviews will be added on this site as they are seen by me…)

OSCAR SHORTS - LIVE ACTION

BROTHERHOOD (Canada/Tunisia 2018) ***

Directed by Meryam Joobeur

The short film, BROTHERHOOD is the result of the TIFF talent lab in 2016.  Set in rural Tunisia, Mohamed is a hardened shepherd living with his wife and one of his sons.  The family ties are put to the test when the eldest son Malik returns home after a long journey in Syria with a mysterious new wife.  The film centres on the tension between father and son that rises over three days until reaching a breaking point.  Not a bad film that reveals the hardship of farming, but there are too many issues, besides the one mentioned brought up that remain unresolved.  This is likely the reason a full length feature based on the identical premise is in the making.

MEMORABLE (France 2019) ***
Directed by Bruno Collet

The most impressive of all the animated shorts in terms of animation MEMORABLE deals with a painter’s dementia.  The painter looks a little like Van Gogh, which makes one wonder if this is the inspiration of Collet’s film.  As the painter, Louis’ dementia worsens, he experiences strange events with his world slowly mutating with furniture, objects and people losing their realism. Unfortunately the film lacks a solid conclusion despite its impressive look at dementia.

NEFTA FOOTBALL CLUB (Tunisia/France 2018) ***

Directed by Yves Piat

A playful comedy centring on two young brothers, one naive and the other not so.  They come across a donkey in the desert.  Strangely, the animal is wearing headphones over its ears and carrying packets of what the younger brother thinks is laundry detergent.  The elder one knows better but his decision to keep the info from his brother pays dearly.  Not really a fable with a message, but the short is a pleasant and light watch.

UNE SOEUR (A SISTER) (Belgium 2018) ****

Directed by Delphine Girard

Born in French Canada and moved to Belgium, director Delphine Girard has made an impressive short thriller that is my vote for BEST short in the live-action section.  The film begins with a woman calling her sister asking about her daughter.  But it is not what it seems as the call is picked by by emergency services.  It appears that the woman has being taken against her will in a car by a man on a date and she is desperately reaching out for help.  At times brilliant, chilling and startling, UNE SEOUR (filmed in French) packs quite the punch. The film also pays tribute to the to operators on the emergency line services who perform a marvellous but thankless job.

OSCAR SHORTS - ANIMATION

HAIR LOVE (USA 2019) **

Directed by Matthew A. Cherry, Everett Downing Jr. and Bruce W. Smith

An African American tale of a daughter and her hair or is it of a daughter and a father.  The girl is obsessed with her hair, undecided on what hair style to adopt.  Her father helps her in what appears to be tear-jerker tale of father/daughter relationship.  The short gets even more sappy when they visit their mother at the end.  Nothing really exceptional about this animated short except for the extreme sappiness.

KITBULL (USA 2019) ***
Directed by Rosana Sullivan

Director Sullivan has worked on Pixar-Disney’s famous box-office success, COCO.  Hr short KITBULL is a combination of the words pitfall and kitten.  The film reveals an unlikely connection that spark between two creatures: a fiercely independent stray kitten and an abused pit bull.  At first apprehensive, they eventually experience friendship for the first time.  Touching and well-animated, as expected from someone who has worked and studies at Disney’s Pixar.

MEMORABLE (France 2019) ***
Directed by Bruno Collet

The most impressive of all the animated shorts in terms of animation MEMORABLE deals with a painter’s dementia.  The painter looks a little like Van Gogh, which makes one wonder if this is the inspiration of Collet’s film.  As the painter, Louis’ dementia worsens, he experiences strange events with his world slowly mutating with furniture, objects and

people losing their realism. Unfortunately the film lacks a solid conclusion despite its impressive look at dementia.

SISTER (MAI-MAI) (USA/China 2018) ****

Directed by Siqi Song

This short gets my vote for the BEST in this section - being clever, imaginative and current in social issues.  The film tackles the morality of China’s one-child family policy, something necessary to curb China’s growing population but a policy that comes with strong moralissues.  The Mandarin title is ‘younger sister’ and tells, in flashback of a man’s growing up with what seems to be his annoying younger sister.  Revealing more of the story would only spoil it for the surprise.

OSCAR SHORTS - DOCUMENTARY

This section is my favourite and every year, showcases many stories that need be told.  They are short, to the point and often riveting filmmaking.

IN THE ABSENCE (South Korea 2018) ***1/2

Directed by Yi Seung-Jun

This accomplished documentary by director Yi, who has already several shorts including a full length feature doc under his belt tells of the aftermath of a South Korean disaster - the sinking of the passenger Sewol ferry.  The ferry sank in 2014 resulting in the loss of over 300 lives including many school children.  Through archive footage and interviews of the survivors and rescuers, the mishandling of the disaster is revealed as clearly mishandled, the authorities more concerned about red tape and not looking bad rather than saving the lives of the passengers.  The relatives of the deceased are shown demanding answers what is a moving and revealing doc.

WALK, RUN, CHA-CHA (USA 2019) ****

Directed by Laura Nix 

This short gets my vote for BEST in the documentary section.  Already known for her award winning feature doc INVENTING TOMORROW, WALK RUN CHA-CHA shows the director in lighter, more playful mode.  The short opens with a cha-cha dance instruction.  It is simply grand to watch a room full of older adults move in unison to the cha-cha or any other dance moves for that matter.  The camera then settles on an elderly couple Paul and Millie.  The two fell in love as teens way back when in Vietnam and now they they reunite their love on the dance floor.  If the story sounds sappy, it nonetheless works resulting in a truly charming love story set in dance.  And it is all true!

Film Review: Il Pleuvait des Oiseaux

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Friday, 03 January 2020 00:23

Written by Gilbert Seah

IL PLEUVAIT DES OISEAUX (AND THE BIRDS RAINED DOWN) (Canada 2019) ***1/2

Directed by Louise Archambault

Director Louise Archambault's elegiac and charming AND THE BIRDS RAINED DOWN based on the award winning novel by Jocelyne Saucier is a tale of lonely old people with a slow pace to match.  The film runs a little over two hours and requires some patience to watch though it comes wth a few rewards.  The film is shot in Quebec showcasing some magnificent landscapes and in French, thus its French title.  The film has been selected Canada’s Top 10 by the Toronto International Film Festival poll.

It takes a death to bring all the film’s characters together.  In fact two deaths, though it is a bit confusing at the start as it appears that the two deaths were the same person.  One death brings in the local hotelier Stephen (Éric Robidoux) with his aunt Gertrude (Andrée Lachapelle).

The other death is Ted, one of three hermits living in cabins in the Quebec countryside, miles from civilization. The hermits are Tom (Rémy Girard), Charlie (Gilbert Sicotte), and Ted (Kenneth Welsh) all of whom fled society years ago.  They grow pot and sell it to the closest locals with help from Stephen.

All four come together resulting in several interactions, one of these being a senior romance between Gertrude and Charlie.  Warning:  There are sex scenes that includes old people nudity.  To the director’s credit, these are taken slowly and executed in good taste.

The film is so called because of fires that often rage through the forested area.  One previous huge fire affected many of the characters including Tom who survived the fire but witnessed his entire family dying from it.  The heat and fumes were too much for the birds that just rained down, dropping on those below.

This is a lifestyle that is increasingly endangered by nature, infirmity, and age. Into the picture arrives photographer/ researcher Ange-Aimee (Eve Landry).  She threatens to disrupt their lives when she starts looking for survivors of this catastrophic blaze.

One thing noticeable about the film is the way more and more stories creep into the plot.  The final one involves yet another fire that once again threatens the existence of the hermits.  Cops arrive, clearing people from danger.

Each character has his or her own story, or baggage as better described.  Tom is the local guitarist/singer who appears stuck there perfuming his tunes, one of which belongs to Tom Waits’ famous collection - “Time” and another of which is Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire”.  Apparently, these two songs were performed live by Girard.  Charlie had been ill, near death but survived.  Gertrude had been institutionalized and had never found love, though have had no shortage of sex inner younger days.  All these stories make intriguing fodder, though they take their time to unfold.

As director Archambault’s film comes to a close, it becomes apparent that it is not the stories of the lives of the characters that make the movie but the surprises that these stories of life brings that makes the film worth watching.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kj_Wq8FfI8

Film Review: Les Miserables

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Sunday, 12 January 2020 01:01

Written by Gilbert Seah

LES MISERABLES (France 2019) ***** Top 10

Directed by Ladj Ly

LES MISERABLES impressed critics when it premiered at last year’s Cannes that eventually led to the film deservedly being selected as the country’s nominee for Best International Film (the new name for the Best Foreign Language Film).  The film also marks the first a black director’s film has been selected for France, which is also his debut feature .  I loved the film when I first saw it at TIFF and it is my pick for the Oscar Winner.

LES MISERABLES the film is so called for a number of reasons, as explained as the film progresses.  The film opens on the day in Paris where France is playing the World Cup.  A black kid dons the French flag while he and his friends jump the metro gates to get to the heart of the celebrations.  They sing the French anthem “La Marseillaise” as patriotic as they can be.  (The opening scene touched me especially, as I was myself in Paris on that very day.)  But this is a different France as the camera shows more immigrants than white Gallic folk.  And the film reveals a different France with a different assortment of current problems.  It is an arousing beginning and director Ly keeps the momentum throughout.

What begins with the celebration of France’s World Cup eventually turns sour with the theft of a lion cub (that is the cutest and the real LION KING) from an East European Circus by an African kid.  Three Paris cops, a black, a white racist and a rookie attempt to calm the racial tensions in the Muslim neighbourhood where the thief resides. 

The story concentrates on the rookie, Corporal Ruiz (Damien Bonnard), a cop of provinces who moves Paris to join the Anti-Crime Brigade of Montfermeil, discovering an underworld where the tensions between the different groups mark the rhythm.  The racist cop is Chris (Alexis Manenti) also known as pink pig, a nickname he is actually proud of.  Chris actually believes he is doing good, and in an odd sort of a way - he is.  “Le loi, c’est moi!” he proudly decalres!  The segment where he harasses three teen girls at a bus stop (they are not that innocent either), is magnificently done, and shows the characters Chris is.  The third, the black (Djibril Zonga) is the one, ironically who accidentally causes the riots.  When the kid is flashed shot in the face, a riot on police brutality erupts. 

Director Ly exhibits brilliant writing (he co-wrote the script with Giordano Gederlini) and excellent camera work while eliciting superlative performances from all his actors.  His totally gripping film, a real roller coaster ride, will undoubtedly keep one on the edge of ones seat right to be very end where surprises and twists in the plot abound.  And wait for the Victor Hugo quote from his novel LES MISERABLES at the film’s end to conclude the events.  LES MISERABLES has a hard fight with PARASITE for the Best International Feature Oscar.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5u-HKciyhM

Film Review: Antigone

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Thursday, 05 December 2019 20:14

Written by Gilbert Seah

ANTIGONE (Canada 2019) ***1/2

Directed by Sophie Deraspe

Two French language films involving police brutality (in these films, police opening fire causing riots) make this year nomination entries for their country’s Best Foreign Language Film entries.  ANTIGONE is Canada’s entry for the Best Foreign Film.  LES MISERABLES is France’s entry.  Both films are quite different.  The short list has at the time of writing not yet been announced.

ANTIGONE is an ambitious film adapted from the classic Greek tragedy. 

ANTIGONE is the name of a Lebanese immigrant living in Montreal with her grandmother, sister and two brothers.  The film begins with a dinner scene where the audience is introduced to each family member.  Things look rosy for the new Canadian family.  Antigone has a romantic fling with a white Canadian boy whose father is running for politics office.

Things take a turn one day when cops show up unexpectedly at a playground.  One brother is shot and the other arrested.  Because the arrested brother has got a record, he likely will be deported.  Antigone having a clean record and not yet an adult figures she can pose as her brother and get him out of prison by pretending to be him.  This she does.  But nothing is what it seems.

By helping her brother escape from prison, Antigone confronts the authorities: the police, the judicial and penal system as well as the father of her friend Haemon. The brilliant teenage girl, on a spotless path so far, feels the noose tighten on her. But to man's law, she substitutes her own sense of justice, dictated by love and loyalty

Director Deraspe always has some new twist in the story, as the film progresses.  Antigone discovers that the brothers are not as innocent as they seem.  The arrested one is part of a local drug gang in which the shot brother held a high position.  Antigone is arced with a dilemma.  Family for citizenship?  The film stresses both the importance of family as well as the need to lookout for oneself and not be bogged down by family.  After all, it is one that is responsible for ones own life.  The decision Antigone takes is revealed in the film’s final shot.

ANTIGONE is a rough watch and is meant to be so.  It is a film that reveals the hardship of immigration in an extremely cruel world.  But director Deraspe shows that there is hope.  There is always good people out there.  The good people out there in this film turns out to be Antigone’s white boyfriend’s father who goes out of his way to do the right thing and earn back the respect of his son.

ANTIGONE is a film deserving of the distinguished honour of being selected as Canada’s entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.  But LES MISERABLES is the better picture as it is more spectacular and daring in its storytelling, taking more risk than ANTIGONE does.  Still ANTIGONE plays more with conflicting raw emotions.  ANTIGONE starts off slow, but it hits boiling level pretty fast.  Definitely worth a look, the film went on to win the prize of Best Canadian Feature at the last Toronto International Film Festival.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo5os3XbZC4