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thecaffeinebookwarrior · 1 year

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My Personal Ranking For the Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films of 2023

I got to watch these shorts in a local theater yesterday, and it was quite a spectacular time.

Note: I am not ranking these based on the quality of the film, but based on how much I personally liked the film. There is definitely a difference. I have come to terms with the fact that I sometimes don’t personally like media that is Objectively Good, and sometimes get unfortunately invested in things that are questionable quality.

With that out of the way, let’s delve in.

1. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse

I, too, am surprised that this was my favorite of the short films. Dare I say, I feel a bit basic. Perhaps I’ll hang up a Live, Laugh, Love sign next.

I’m especially surprised, because I actually have more critiques regarding it than I do with other short films that I liked less. Specifically, the dialogue could sound like platitudes, which is a pet peeve of mine with any media.

But it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s among the most beautiful animation I’ve ever seen, and seeing it on the big screen was nothing short of an emotional experience.

The animation and designs made me love each character, and made the dialogue -- which, in a less beautiful film, might have been enough to put me off liking it -- feel heartfelt. I can’t praise the creative team behind this film enough for the manner in which they brought these characters to life. The voice performances are also commendable.

Perhaps most importantly, it put me in touch with my inner child. Wizard of Oz, Jungle Book, James and the Giant Peach, Spirited Away, Kubo -- there is a timeless impulse among children, it would seem, to be befriended and loved by benevolent talking animals or fantastical creatures.

It is perhaps because of my inner child that I love this film so much. My childhood self might have been oblivious to the beautifully simplistic depth of Ice Merchants, the blink-and-you-miss-it beats that make The Flying Sailor so meaningful, bewildered by My Year of Dicks, and existentially terrified by An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake, but my desire for a big white talking horsey is timeless and powerful.

Where to watch it: Apple TV+

2. My Year of Dicks

This one is just. So unspeakably funny. And, despite the fact that I’m a raging Sapphic who’s never been interested in the dicks available to me, I found it intensely relatable.

This may be a controversial statement, but I find that mainstream Hollywood’s attempts to nail down the Female Gaze are often more obnoxious than the Male Gaze itself. Partially because it often revolves around what male executives think The Modern Woman(TM) finds appealing, rather than an actual understanding of the female experience. The Male Gaze, at the very least, feels somewhat organic and based in the personal experience of the filmmakers.

This -- this felt like the Female Gaze. A truly organic trip through the psychology, impulses, and emotions of a fifteen-year-old girl. It treated its female protagonist not as unknowable, but as relatable, with the five unpleasant male characters she was approaching as Other -- each in five wildly entertaining ways. And it was glorious.

The way the main character dramatized her experiences -- making full use of the animated world in which she lived -- was something I could relate to viscerally. I’m reluctant to mention anything else about the plot, as I truly encourage everyone to just experience it firsthand. It’s heartfelt, exquisitely ‘90s, and a beautiful animated tribute to teenhood and questionable decisions.

Where to watch it: Vimeo, Hulu

3. Ice Merchants

Such a beautiful and emotional experience. I would say that this film demonstrates that less is more, but really, it demonstrates that the illusion of less is more. In reality, this film is teaming with detail, from the beautifully textured ice and misty landscape below, to the subtle indications of the characters’ recently experienced loss.

I was so entranced by the visual beauty and surrealist elements of this film, it took me a while to grasp its actual storyline: subtle clues, presented by a yellow mug, indicate the loss of the ice merchant’s wife and the mother of his son, and the cold world in which they live comes to represent their grief.

Without giving much away, the film ends with a view of a spring landscape, representing the eventual thaw of this grief as father and son begin to heal.

Where to watch: YouTube

4. The Flying Sailor

This beautiful and strange animation is based off of a true story, in which a sailor was flung 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) by the Halifax explosion in 1917, and lived to tell about it.

This film is essentially the sailor’s life flashing before his eyes as he soars, naked, over the exploding landscape. We get to know his character through the blink-and-you-miss-it moments that we witness of his life.

My favorite moment of the film was when he lights a cigarette at the same instant a ship in the harbor (unbeknownst to him, full of dynamite) catches fire. His -- and our -- quiet shock as we realize what we’re looking at is haunting. He even steps on the match, as if in a subconscious effort to put out the blaze, just as the contents of the ship explodes and nearly ends his life.

Where to watch it: YouTube

5. An Ostrich Told Me The World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It

Just because I rank this film last doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It’s incredibly good, and an inventive way to portray a character’s existential crisis through a stop-motion medium.

Ultimately, this is a story about a man realizing how meaningless his life has become while working at an unfulfilling office job. But that makes the film sound way more mundane than it actually is. The way in which this existential crisis is portrayed is through the main character realizing that he and his fellow workers are all stop-motion puppets, after he is visited by the titular ostrich.

And I do like it a great deal, but the reason for it subjectively ranking below the other films is the simple fact that the other films left me with a more positive emotional feeling. This one...is kind of terrifying.

I wonder if the director was inspired by the 1965 stop motion The Hand, in which a gloved human hand is used as a source of horror in the world of a stop motion puppet. In a similar manner, human hands look uncanny in this film when contrasted with the main character and his puppet world.

Anyway, go watch it and have an existential crisis of your own. I recommend it.

Where to watch it: Vimeo

Have you seen the animated shorts? Let me know your personal ranking!

#oscar nominated short films #the boy the mole the fox and the horse #ice merchants #the flying sailor #an ostrich told me the world is fake and i think i believe it #long post for ts #film

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moviemosaics · 1 year

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All Oscar-nominated short films at the 95th Academy Awards

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estelscinema · 1 year

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QUICKIE REVIEWS: OSCAR EDITION

The Quiet Girl, Directed by Colm Bairead

The Quiet Girl is a quiet beauty in this year's Oscar nominations. It's soft and heartfelt, as we see the world through a child's eye, who has known nothing but neglect. The story is straightforward and masterfully handles numerous themes from child-neglect and abusive households, to redefining what we considered to be family. The entire ensemble cast brings all of these themes to life masterfully. The cinematography and the simple score are beautiful. Overall, The Quiet Girl a charming film worthy of its Oscar nomination.

My Rating: A-

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An Ostrich Told Me The World is Fake and I Think I Believe It, Directed by Lachlan Pendragon.

If there ever was an Academy Award for Best Titled Film, An Ostrich Told Me The World is Fake and I Think I Believe It, would easily take the cake home. Besides the absurd title, with a runtime of 11 minutes, the film pulls apart the theme of the existential crisis, with a self-aware twist. It's a fun and incredibly intriguing premise of office life. The animation is wonderful. However, the story could have been ironed out a bit more, but overall this was a fun short film.

My Rating: B+

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Ice Merchant, Directed by Joao Gonzalez

There is something personal and touching within The Ice Merchant. For being 14 minutes long it's filled with themes such as grief, loss, and love. What's even more impressive is that it does this without saying a single word. All of these themes and many more are beautifully woven into the animation. The animation is stunning and thoughtful. Its ability to convey so many emotions, through a universal story is impressive. Overall, a beautiful piece of animation.

My Rating: A

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The Flying Sailor, Directed by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby.

The Flying Sailor is a fascinating take on near-death experiences. Inspired by the Halifax Explosion in 1917, we see a sailor get tossed across the city and we see his life flash before our eyes. It's thoughtful in its portrayal of these experiences without saying a single word. Though the animation style was not for me, I still respected it. Overall, an interesting animated piece.

My Rating: B

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dweemeister · 1 year

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Best Animated Short Film Nominees for the 95th Academy Awards (2023, listed in order of appearance in the shorts package)

This blog, since 2013, has been the site of my write-ups to the Oscar-nominated short film packages – a personal tradition for myself and for this blog. This omnibus write-up goes with my thanks to the Regency South Coast Village in Santa Ana, California for providing all three Oscar-nominated short film packages. Without further ado, here are the nominees for the Best Animated Short Film at this year’s Academy Awards. The write-ups for the Documentary Short and Live Action Short nominees are complete. Films predominantly in a language other than English (or in two cases here, with dialogue) are listed with their nation(s) of origin.

So completes this year’s omnibus write-ups for the Oscar-nominated short films.

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It (2021)

In 1953, director Chuck Jones tortured Daffy Duck with the whims of an unseen animator (revealed to be Bugs Bunny) in Duck Amuck. Fast forward almost seventy years and a film of a similar concept comes in Lachlan Pendragon’s An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It. Pendragon, who directed, wrote, animated, and voiced the main character this film as an undergraduate student at the Griffith Film School in Brisbane (where he is now a PhD candidate), frames hapless toaster telemarketing salesman Neil as under fire from his boss (Michael Richard) due to a lack of sales. As the workday continues, he begins to notice peculiar aspects of his fellow coworkers and the office that make him question what is going on. Accidentally sleeping at work through the night, he encounters an ostrich (John Cavanagh) in the elevator who then claims the world Neil lives in is, “a lie”. What follows is a meta-breaking, existential short film deriving its comedy from the character’s realization of the stop-motion artifice of his life.

A winner of the Student Academy Award from last year and a nominee for Best Graduation Film at Annecy (the premier animation-only film festival), Ostrich uses what I am assuming is Pendragon’s hand in place of Bugs Bunny’s glove and paintbrush. Shot entirely during the COVID-19 lockdown at home in the living room, this is a one-man animation job. For most of its ten-minute runtime, the viewers see the film through an in-film camera monitor – allowing us into Pendragon’s workspace. Meanwhile, in the background that comprises the margins of the frame, we witness the rigging, wiring, and animation handiwork that is occurring at twenty-four frames per second. The impressive character design and the clearly-delineated pop-off faces and jaws provide a remarkable assist to Ostrich’s comic timing and Neil’s acting (which Pendragon admits that Neil’s reactions take inspiration his own behavioral habits). The film’s metaphor is perhaps not as well developed, but one can make the argument that Ostrich is a blistering take on this stifling office environment and champions an exploration and investigation of all possibilities in one’s earthly life and in existence. One imagines we will see more from Pendragon, who is at the very beginning of his career and wishes to make a feature someday.

My rating: 8/10

The Flying Sailor (2022, Canada)

Making its debut last year at Annecy and from National Film Board of Canada (NFB; who, as a studio, are the second-most nominated ever in this category behind Walt Disney Animation), Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis’ The Flying Sailor is an experimental take of the story of Charlie Mayers. On December 6, 1917, a French cargo ship and a Norwegian merchant vessel collided in a strait called the Narrows, just off Halifax, Nova Scotia. A fire began on the former ship, which carried with it high explosives. The resulting explosion was the most violent peacetime accidental explosion ever on Earth – killing more than 1,700 and wounding around 9,000 in the immediate area and from the shockwaves. Mayers was actually onboard the deck of one of the ships, but Tilby and Forbis move him to the docks, watching on as an inquisitive spectator instead. As in real life, the blast is enough to quickly tear off all his clothes, and he spirals skyward. It is here that Tilby and Forbis send Mayers flying in slow-motion, almost balletically spinning as the film delves into his unconsciousness.

His life flashing before his eyes, we see hazy glimpses of the sailor’s memories – his childhood self at play, his mother, the rough-and-tumble life of being a sailor. Along with My Year of Dicks, The Flying Sailor is one of the first films in this category to make use of mixed media since Mémorable (2019, France). It opens with juxtaposing our hand-drawn sailor with the ships – as if in the style of the opening of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood – hurtling towards each other. But once the explosion occurs, the film, too, explodes with a clash of styles. Showcasing hand-drawn, computer-generated, and live action footage, Tilby and Forbis’ choices are reflective of the instant disorientation following the blast. The film’s penultimate moments are an orchestral cacophony from composer Luigi Allemano as the sailor returns to our earthly existence. This is perhaps the only film of these five that absolutely needed to be a short film. It presents its direction, completes its business, and concludes.

My rating: 8/10

Ice Merchants (2022, Portugal)

By earning Portugal its first-ever Academy Award nomination, João Gonzalez’s Ice Merchants – a production of the Cola Animation collective – already has a place in Oscars history. In his third film as a director following The Voyager (2017) and Nestor (2019), Gonzalez transports audiences to an impossible, dreamlike place and imbues his film with a metaphor of loss and how family routines can be an extension of grief. In a cliffside house suspended by hooks and ropes live a father and his son. Living thousands of feet above the town below, they jump off their porch daily, parachuting to safety in order to sell the ice. They return home after selling their wares and purchasing whatever they need in town by using a pulley system that probably takes ages to ascend and descend. In the rarified, chilly air, father and son go about their lives peacefully, continuing their lives amid the shadow of loss.

Garnering award wins at Cannes, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Annies, Ice Merchants is among the most-awarded short films ever prior to an Oscar nomination. According to Gonzalez, the idea of the cliffside house came as he was dreaming or was about to fall asleep – a development that has, thus far, fully informed the visual conceits of his entire filmography. Prior to starting the formal animation for Ice Merchants, Gonzalez himself modeled the entire house (including the swing, interiors, and pulley system) 3D and started composing the score (Gonzalez is a pianist, but required his friend, conductor/orchestrator Nuno Lobo, to transpose for various instruments). Unusual in that the film’s narrative and themes spring from the score rather than the other way around, Ice Merchants adopts an everyday melancholy reflected in its strikingly limited color palette. Those colors include shades of red, orange, a dark blue or green for backgrounds only, and two brief but noteworthy instances of yellow. All these decisions – visually, musically, narratively – combine in a breathtaking conclusion that unleashes a wave of emotions. That mastery of cinematic control leads me to write something longtime readers know I do not say lightly. Ice Merchants is the best nominee in this category since Bear Story (2014, Chile) and World of Tomorrow (2015) were nominated together seven years ago. By extension, it is one of the finest animated short films of the young century.

My rating: 9/10

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022)

Adapting Charlie Mackesy’s 2019 picture book of the same name, Peter Baynton and Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse made an enormous splash when it aired on BBC One on Christmas Eve as part of the BBC’s annual slate of Christmas specials. It qualified for an Academy Award nomination by virtue of a nominal one-week theatrical release in Los Angeles County on September 23, 2022. Here, the Boy (Jude Coward Nicoll) has lost his way in a wintry forest when he encounters Mole (Tom Hollander). Mole is a cheerful, friendly sort that enjoys a good cake. But the Boy believes himself to be lost, is searching for a home, and wishes to be a kind person. Along their travels they encounter starving Fox (Idris Elba) and the lonely Horse (Gabriel Byrne). For the duration of this movie, the Boy and his animal friends speak to each other in platitudes of positivity, reassurance, and perseverance for what is most likely chronic depression or seasonal affective disorder.

The Boy might just be the most beautifully drawn of this year’s nominees. Its painterly watercolor backgrounds seem as lifted from a picture book; the residual sketches on each of the characters are a beautiful expressionistic touch (I especially like the ends of the Boy’s hair and Fox’s tale, as well as the curvatures to denote Horse’s leg musculature). My sense of visual wonder lasted all but five or so minutes. Because once the Boy has a few conversations with Mole, the film’s thirty-seven minutes seem all the more interminable. The film’s dialogue – and my goodness, no one speaks like this in real life – is trite, straight from the crowd that might have a “live, laugh, love” embroidery unironically hanging on their wall. Each character appears as if they are trying to one-up the other in their AI-generated speech*, as if each Very Important Line of Dialogue is attempting to be the penultimate or final line in a children’s picture book. I understand how this might be impactful for those with major cases of depression and seasonal affective disorder, but the film’s messaging and horrific script is sheer overkill.

My rating: 6/10

My Year of Dicks (2022)

A winner at Annecy, Chicago International Film Festival, and SXSW, Sara Gunnarsdóttir’s My Year of Dicks adapts Pamela Ribon’s comedic memoir Notes to Boys: And Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public (Ribon is the sole screenwriter on this film). This is not about people named Richard. It is 1991 in Houston. In the first of five chapters, we find Pam (Brie Tilton) – a fifteen-year-old who wants desperately to lose her virginity sometimes this year – narrating a diary entry/letter to her first boy, David (Sterling Temple Howard, “Skater Dude” from 2020’s Two Distant Strangers). David is a skater boy who has filed his nails into sharp points and his teeth in a similar way. As one can imagine, this romance does not work out and Pam cycles through the next four chapters awash in heterosexual hijinks (some readers will interpret the use of “heterosexual” here as a pejorative, but I say it as only an observation) with Wally (Mical Trejo), Robert (Sean Stack), best friend Sam (Jackson Kelly), and Joey (Chris Elsenbroek).

Alternatively hilarious and excruciating (see: the scene where Pam’s father gives her The Talk) to watch, one-half of the film’s genius lies in Ribon’s adapted screenplay of her memoir. Ribon (a co-screenwriter on 2016’s Moana and 2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet), who saved all of the letters she wrote to all her crushes when she was a teenager, adapts that writing to form an honest, secondhand embarrassing story. The central ideas play like a grown-up Helga Pataki from Hey Arnold!, sans used gum bust of her beloved. My Year of Dicks’ resolution is genuine, as is a non-judgmental depiction of teenage female sexuality‡. In a roundabout way, it is a deconstruction of the idea that the only way for girls to achieve full womanhood is through sex and sexual appeal. And like The Flying Sailor, My Year of Dicks employs a litany of styles of mixed media that help it succeed. Though its rough rotoscoping (a time-tested technique in which animators trace over live-action footage) is the dominant style, there are some fascinating breaks here: most interestingly, a scene involving a metaphoric angel and devil over Pam’s shoulders and interludes of shôjo anime (which probably was not on the radar of Houston teenagers in 1991). A sidesplittingly funny film, My Year of Dicks nevertheless retains a sliver of nostalgic poignancy to keep it grounded.

My rating: 8/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

From previous years: 85th Academy Awards (2013), 87th (2015), 88th (2016), 89th (2017), 90th (2018), 91st (2019), 92nd (2020), 93rd (2021), and 94th (2022).

* This begs a question. Should programmers of AI chatbots receive credit for their work when, inevitably, we have a film written by one?

‡ This line of thinking was certainly more prominent in the 1980s-2000s than it has been over the last decade, as teenage sex in the U.S. is down considerably from those times (the reasons are many).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

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randomrichards · 1 year

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AN OSTRICH TOLD ME THE WORLD WAS FAKE AND I THINK I BELIEVE IT:

A toaster salesman

Sees the hand that controls him

Meta stop motion

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#an ostrich told me the world is fake and i think i believe it #random richards #poem #haiku #poetry #haiku poem #poets on tumblr #haiku poetry #haiku form #poetic #academy award nominee #best animated short #lachlan pendragon #John Cavanagh #Michael Richard #Jamie Trotter #stop motion #meta humor #Youtube

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evelinescoffee · 1 year

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"An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It | Trailer"

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#Trailer #animation #short film #video #stop motion #an ostrich told me the world is fake and i think i believe it #oscars #Youtube

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worldmusicandcinema · 1 year

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#an ostrich told me the world is fake and i think i believe it #movies #films #movie posters #movie poster #poster cine #posters cine #cinemania #cinema

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bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews · 1 year

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The Oscars "Best Animated Short" Nominees, 2023.

#onemannsmovies review of the Oscar "Best Animated Short" film nominees for 2023.

A One Mann’s Movies review of the nominations for the Oscars in the “Best Animated Short” Category. I’ve not done separate reviews for these Oscar “Best Animated Short” nominees but am including brief reviews for them in this one post. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (2022). Bob the Movie Man Rating(s): Plot Summary: A lost boy is helped with guidance and advice from the animals he…

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greensparty · 1 year

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Green’s Party Guide to the 2023 Oscar Nominated Short Films

Every year the Academy Awards give out their annual movie awards, but all of the attention usually goes to the big categories. I am a longtime champion of the Short Film categories for Animation, Live Action and Documentary, mainly because I have made short films and I know how hard it can be to tell a story in a short amount of time. I am very excited to continue my annual tradition of showcasing the Oscar Nominated Short Films (read my 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 guides). This year’s nominated short films are available from ShortsTV both in theaters and online. I’ve watched all of them and here are my thoughts and predictions:

2023 Shorts TV poster

Best Live Action Short:

This year’s Live Action Short nominees are all from other countries. In addition to global diversity, they are all very diverse in genres too. In An Irish Goodbye (Ireland), two estranged brothers reunite after the death of their mother. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the similarities to multi-Oscar nominee The Banshees of Inisherin, with it’s rural Ireland setting, humor, and drama. Ivalu (Denmark) is about a young Inuit girl searching for her missing sister against the breath-taking backdrop of Greenland. It is co-directed by Anders Walter who previously won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short for 2013′s Helium. Disney+’s The Pupils (Italy) is about girls at a Catholic boarding school during Christmas time. Of all the nominees this has gotten the most attention because it was produced by Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity and Roma) and if he wins for this that would be a 5th Oscar on his mantle. Night Ride (Norway) shows a woman with dwarfism who steal a tram and a series of unexpected events occur as she continues to make tram stops. In The Red Suitcase (Luxembourg), a young Iranian woman arrives in a new country for an arranged marriage and suddenly makes a life-changing decision.

2023 Live Action Short Film nominees

Will Win: The Pupils has name recognition with Cuaron as a nominee, but it is also the most uplifting of this year’s nominees. The fact that it’s on Disney+ doesn’t hurt either.

Should Win: The Red Suitcase truly stayed with me for days after watching it. It told a highly emotional story with high stakes in a very short amount of time and left me in awe.

Best Animated Short:

I always enjoy animated shorts because this category is always showcasing various styles of animation from all over the world. Apple TV+’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (U.S. / U.K.) is based on a children’s book about, well, a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse who travel together in the boy’s search for a new home. This one boasts the star power of voices Tom Hollander, Idris Elba and Gabriel Byrne as well as star producers J.J. Abrams and Woody Harrelson. In The Flying Sailor (Canada), it shows a sailor who goes flying after an explosion (based on a true story from 1917). It is co-directed by Amanda Forbis, who was nominated twice before for Best Animated Short, and Wendy Tilby, who was nominated three times before for Best Animated Short. Ice Merchants (Portugal / France / U.K.) has been getting a lot of attention because it is the first Portuguese film to ever be nominated for an Oscar. It shows a father and son who jump with a parachute from their house to go to a village and sell ice. FX and Hulu’s My Year of Dicks (U.S.) is about a 15-year old girl who is determined to lose her virginity in early 90s Houston. Based on Pamela Ribon’s memoir, it is animated but has moments of live action interspersed as well. There are five different guys she is with in this time period and there’s different styles of animation throughout. In An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It (Australia), a telemarketer is confronted and told that the world is stop motion animation and now he needs to convince his colleagues.

2023 Animated Short Film nominees

Will Win: The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse boasts star power and it’s on Apple TV+, but more than that, it feels like an animated feature in 32 minutes.

Should Win: I am rooting for The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse also because it was produced by someone I interned for a while back. But I will say this: a case can be made for My Year of Dicks for using animation to tell her personal recollection...and let’s face it, it would be wildly entertaining to see a presenter on the Oscar telecast say “and the winner is...My Year of Dicks” and not get censored.

Best Documentary Short:

This year’s Doc Shorts are all completely different in their subjects and in their approaches to documentary. In Haulout (U.K.) a lonely man waits on a remote coast of the Siberian Arctic for an ancient gathering. There is a powerful environmental message to this, even if it is slow moving and has very little dialogue. Netflix’s The Elephant Whisperers (India) also has an environmental message in it to: an Indigenous couple fall in love with an orphaned elephant and work for his survival. Both have breath-taking cinematography! HBO Max’s How Do You Measure a Year? (U.S.) is a doc 17 years in the making: The director had a ritual with his daughter Ella every year on her birthday from age 2 to 18, he filmed an interview with her being asked the exact same questions each year. Director Jay Rosenblatt was nominated for Best Documentary Short last year for When We Were Bullies, my favorite of last year’s nominees. Netflix’s The Martha Mitchell Effect (U.S.) is a historical doc about Martha Mitchell, the whistleblower who was married to President Nixon’s attorney general John N. Mitchell. She was gaslighted by the Nixon Administration to keep her quiet and today through the lens of 2023, we see she was speaking the truth even though she was told otherwise. The New Yorker’s Stranger at the Gate (U.S.) is about a U.S. Marine who plots a terrorist attack on a mosque in Muncie, Indiana. But in the process of doing so, a surprising turn of events occur for all involved.

2023 Documentary Short Film nominees

Will Win: This is a hard one to predict. Sometimes the Academy goes for environmental or socio-political subjects, but recent years it has been introspective human interest stories. A case could literally be made for any of these to win, but if I had to predict I’d go with The Elephant Whisperers. It had the backing of Netflix, but more importantly it’s cinematography can’t be denied and neither than the endearing story.

Should Win: Even if the haters are going to say How Do You Measure a Year? is just a gimmick, I really liked it. Sure, we’ve seen this approach in the Up series and to an extent Boyhood did something similar in it’s narrative approach, but the way we are seeing this girl grow and mature through the annual interview tradition was intriguing and introspective. I do have to say a close second would be Stranger at the Gate based solely on the unbelievable twist and sense of surprise you don’t always see in documentaries.

This year’s Oscar Nominated Short Films can be seen online from ShortsTV and in movie theaters, including Somerville Theatre, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema and Coolidge Corner Theatre in the Boston area. For tickets and info: https://shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/tickets/

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kvothes · 1 year

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you know what you guys didn't ask for? my review of the oscar nominations for animated short films. you know what you're going to get anyway?

an ostrich told me the world is fake and i think i believe it - extra points for showing some of the magic behind stop-motion animation (and using that for some surprising body horror) but it went on just a bit too long for my taste

the flying sailor - lovely but mostly makes me curious about the true story it's based on—a sailor who was launched 2km by an explosion and lived

the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse - beautiful animation. absolutely wretched writing. what the fuck. a frontrunner because apple and the bcc have thrown so much money behind it but. cringe

my year of dicks - one of the funniest fucking things i have ever seen in a theater.

ice merchants - BEAUTIFUL ANIMATION BEAUTIFUL STORY THE BEST OF THE LOT IF IT DOESN'T WIN I WILL CRY

links to watch my two favorites, you can probably find the others online. they're short films, ranging from like 15–25 minutes. enjoy!

#oscars #mine #2023

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moviemosaics · 1 year

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An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It

directed by Lachlan Pendragon, 2021

#An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It #Lachlan Pendragon #movie mosaics

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moovees · 1 year

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Best Picture “All Quiet on the Western Front” “Avatar: The Way of Water” “The Banshees of Inisherin” “Elvis” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” “The Fabelmans” “TÁR” “Top Gun: Maverick” “Triangle of Sadness” “Women Talking”

Best Director Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”) Todd Field (“TÁR”) Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”)

Best Actress Cate Blanchett (“TÁR”) Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”) Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”) Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Best Actor Austin Butler (“Elvis”) Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”) Bill Nighy (“Living”)

Best Supporting Actress Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) Hong Chau (“The Whale”) Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Best Supporting Actor Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”) Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”) Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

International film: “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) “Argentina, 1985” (Argentina) “Close” (Belgium) “EO” (Poland) “The Quiet Girl” (Ireland)

Best animated feature: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” “The Sea Beast” “Turning Red”

Original screenplay: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” “The Banshees of Inisherin” “The Fabelmans” “Tár” “Triangle of Sadness”

Visual Effects: “Avatar: The Way of Water” “Top Gun: Maverick” “The Batman” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Music (original score): Volker Bertelmann, “All Quiet on the Western Front” Justin Hurwitz, “Babylon” Carter Burwell, “The Banshees of Inisherin” Son Lux, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” John Williams, “The Fabelmans”

Original song: “Applause,” from “Tell It Like a Woman” “Hold My Hand,” from “Top Gun: Maverick” “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” “This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Documentary feature: “All That Breathes’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” “Fire of Love” “A House Made of Splinters” “Navalny”

Original screenplay: “The Banshees of Inisherin” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” “The Fabelmans” “Tár” “Triangle of Sadness.”

Adapted screenplay: “All Quiet on the Western Front” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” “Living,” “Top Gun: Maverick” “Women Talking.

Cinematography: James Friend, “All Quiet on the Western Front” Darius Khondj, “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” Mandy Walker, “Elvis” Roger Deakins, “Empire of Light” Florian Hoffmeister, “Tár”

Costume design: “Babylon” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” “Elvis” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”

Animated short: “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” “The Flying Sailor” “Ice Merchants” “My Year of Dicks” “An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe it"

Live action short: “An Irish Goodbye” “Ivalu” “Le Pupille” “Night Ride” “The Red Suitcase”

Film editing: “The Banshees of Inisherin” “Elvis” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” “Tár” “Top Gun: Maverick”

Sound: “All Quiet on the Western Front” “Avatar: The Way of Water” “The Batman” "Elvis” “Top Gun: Maverick”

Production design: “All Quiet on the Western Front” “Avatar: The Way of Water” “Babylon” “Elvis" “The Fabelmans."

Makeup and hairstyling: “All Quiet on the Western Front” “The Batman” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” “Elvis” “The Whale”

#oscars #academy awards #nominees

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dweemeister · 1 year

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95th Academy Awards nominations reaction

I got up early this morning, typed some of these just after the nominations came out, and left it sitting in the drafts. Some personal reactions from me about today’s nominees:

Of the ten Best Picture nominees, I have seen five of them. This is the furthest ahead I’ve been at this point in awards season since 2019 (Avatar 2, Banshees, Elvis, EEAAO, Fabelmans). I do have my work cut out for me here. As of right now, I’m pretty much on the EEAAO train, but perhaps not as energetically as I’ve been for other movies in previous years. Partly due to the fact I can understand why people might dislike EEAAO intensely and partly because there are no 9/10 or 10/10 movies for me from 2022. At least from those I’ve seen. Fabelmans my second choice from those I’ve seen.

And now I have to watch two Top Gun movies. I’ve been avoiding the first for a long, long time having heard way too much about it and people saying it’s just not gonna be my thing. We’ll see over the next month.

Whoa. Where did Triangle of Sadness come from with both Picture and Director? That movie was divisive in some parts, and I’ve heard that it felt like an overlong lecture. The directors’ branch gonna directors’ branch, though - they always nominate one director out of left field. And this year, Ruben Östlund was that man.

Say it with me: in the Year of Our Lord, Anno Domini MMXXIII, we take Steven Spielberg and John Williams for granted. I think Spielberg has a shot at Director (and, as of this moment if I was a member of the Academy, I might just vote for him) and John gets his record-extending 53rd nomination (behind Walt Disney’s 59, and most by a living person). John’s count of five total Oscars (having last won 30 years ago) is too low. But the Academy members, I think, I have Oscar winners’ envy. John also becomes the oldest Academy Award nominee ever.

In any case, the other Original Score nominees this year are amelodic electronic background noise. Where is Simon Franglen for Avatar? Alexandre Desplat for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio?

All Quiet overperformed here, compared to what I expected. I know its haul of 14 BAFTA nominations was ridiculous, but I chalked that up to WWI being more prominent than in the U.S. - where most people don’t think about it much at all. I’ve not seen it, but I must say I have a lot of admiration for the 1930 original that won Best Picture. That All Quiet was the first sound masterpiece at a time when the silent-to-sound transition was still going on. I’m not sure how this one will stack up, having heard about some of the narrative changes they made to it.

Despite what has been widely reported, Michelle Yeoh becomes the second Best Actress nominee of Asian descent since Merle Oberon for The Dark Angel (1935). Oberon had to hide her Indian and Maori heritage due to safety reasons and we didn’t learn about this until after her death.

Also overjoyed to see Nighy, Michelle Williams, Ke Huy Quan, Hong Chau, and Stephanie Hsu all in the mix for acting. Best Actor features five first-time nominees for the first time in 88 years. Also, that’s four actors of Asian descent getting nominations! That’s a record!

Cartoon Saloon finally has the first blemish on their Academy Award nominations record. They were previously nominated for all of their movies - The Secret of Kells (2009), Song of the Sea (2014), The Breadwinner (2017), and Wolfwalkers (2020; which should have beaten Soul). My Father’s Dragon (2022) definitely was their weakest movie yet and, yeah, that didn’t deserve to be here. Hoping to see a return to form for the Kilkenny-based studio. You’ve got to think GdT’s Pinocchio now. No contest. I need to check out The Sea Beast, though.

What happened to RRR? Original Song only? Not a movie I’ve seen because I insist on watching it in the original Telugu, but my sense was that there was a divide in how it was received. In the West, with critics and audiences having very little idea about the nature of Indian cinema and its history, it was something different and refreshing and was well-received. In India, its use of Hindu iconography struck a chord of Modi-esque Hindu nationalism that has muted critical plaudits there. It’s an interesting dynamic, one that I doubt Westerners picked up at all.

I am so excited to see the short films, as always (and I write up on them too, you can see last year’s edition for Animated Short here). Those last two Animated Short nominees though? My Year of Dicks (not people named Richard, afaik) and An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It? What titles. Can’t wait! As I understand it, no major American studios were in play for Animated Short at the shortlist stage. So this should be a fun, independent filmmaker-driven slate.

The Batman should have found its way into cinematography.

Never count Diane Warren out for Original Song, no matter how obscure the movie! She’ll, of course, lose - as she unfortunately always does. 14 nominations for Warren. Glad she picked up the Honorary Oscar last year, though.

Lots of clamor about the decision to leave Decision to Leave out in International Feature. But the International Feature branch usually does very funny things, and I don’t think there has been a consensus at all in this category. All Quiet the odds-on favorite due to its significant haul of nominations, however.

Well, this should be a fun month! On this blog, “31 Days of Oscar” - my marathon based on Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) marathon of the same name featuring only Oscar nominees and Honorary Oscar winners through the 95 years of Oscar history - is coming on March 1st!

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cyarsk52-20 · 1 year

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Here Are All the Winners From the 2023 Oscars: Complete List

The 95th annual Academy Awards are hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

The 95th Academy Awards take place on Sunday (March 12) at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and air live on ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel returning as Oscars host for the third time.

Jimmy Kimmel Jokes About Nick Cannon’s Kids, the Will Smith Slap in 2023 Oscars…

03/12/2023

Everything Everywhere All At Once, which earned 11 nods, is the most-nominated film this year. One of those 11 nominations is for best original song (David Byrne, Ryan Lott and Mitski’s “This Is A Life”). They’re competing against Lady Gaga and BloodPop for “Hold My Hand” (Top Gun: Maverick), Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson for “Lift Me Up (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Diane Warren for “Applause” (Tell It Like a Woman) and M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose for “Naatu Naatu” (RRR). This is Warren’s 14th nomination, with no wins so far. Gaga previously won this category for co-writing “Shallow” from A Star Is Born.

Baz Luhrmann’s biopic on 20thcentury icon Elvis Presley, Elvis, was nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture; it also earned a best actor nomination for Austin Butler, who portrayed the King of Rock & Roll.

Check out the complete winners list below, updating live throughout the show.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Angela Bassett in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Hong Chau in “The Whale” Kerry Condon in “The Banshees of Inisherin” Jamie Lee Curtis in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER Stephanie Hsu in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Costume Design

“Babylon” Mary Zophres “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Ruth Carter — WINNER “Elvis” Catherine Martin “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Shirley Kurata “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” Jenny Beavan

Best Sound

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte “Avatar: The Way of Water” Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges “The Batman” Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson “Elvis” David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller “Top Gun: Maverick” Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor — WINNER

Best Original Score

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Volker Bertelmann — WINNER “Babylon” Justin Hurwitz “The Banshees of Inisherin” Carter Burwell “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Son Lux “The Fabelmans” John Williams

Best Adapted Screenplay

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” Written by Rian Johnson “Living” Written by Kazuo Ishiguro “Top Gun: Maverick” Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks “Women Talking” Screenplay by Sarah Polley — WINNER

Best Original Screenplay

“The Banshees of Inisherin” Written by Martin McDonagh “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert — WINNER “The Fabelmans” Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner “Tár” Written by Todd Field “Triangle of Sadness” Written by Ruben Östlund

Best Live-Action Short Film

“An Irish Goodbye” Tom Berkeley and Ross White — WINNER “Ivalu” Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan “Le Pupille” Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón “Night Ride” Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen “The Red Suitcase” Cyrus Neshvad

Best Animated Short Film

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud — WINNER “The Flying Sailor” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby “Ice Merchants” João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano “My Year of Dicks” Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon “An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It” Lachlan Pendragon

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Brendan Gleeson in “The Banshees of Inisherin” Brian Tyree Henry in “Causeway” Judd Hirsch in “The Fabelmans” Barry Keoghan in “The Banshees of Inisherin” Ke Huy Quan in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER

Best Animated Film

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley — WINNER “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” Joel Crawford and Mark Swift “The Sea Beast” Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger “Turning Red” Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins

Best Original Song

“Applause” from “Tell It like a Woman”; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”; Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”; Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR”; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose — WINNER “This Is A Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”; Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne

Best International Feature Film

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Germany — WINNER “Argentina, 1985” Argentina “Close” Belgium “EO” Poland “The Quiet Girl” Ireland

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová “The Batman” Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Camille Friend and Joel Harlow “Elvis” Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti “The Whale” Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley — WINNER

Best Production Design

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper — WINNER “Avatar: The Way of Water” Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole “Babylon” Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino “Elvis” Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn “The Fabelmans” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

Best Cinematography

“All Quiet on the Western Front” James Friend — WINNER “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” Darius Khondji “Elvis” Mandy Walker “Empire of Light” Roger Deakins “Tár” Florian Hoffmeister

Best Visual Effects

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar “Avatar: The Way of Water” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett — WINNER “The Batman” Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick “Top Gun: Maverick” Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

Best Film Editing

“The Banshees of Inisherin” Mikkel E.G. Nielsen “Elvis” Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Paul Rogers — WINNER “Tár” Monika Willi “Top Gun: Maverick” Eddie Hamilton

Best Documentary Feature

“All That Breathes” Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov “Fire of Love” Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman “A House Made of Splinters” Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström “Navalny” Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris — WINNER

Best Documentary Short Subject

“The Elephant Whisperers” Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga — WINNER “Haulout” Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev “How Do You Measure a Year?” Jay Rosenblatt “The Martha Mitchell Effect” Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison “Stranger at the Gate” Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Austin Butler in “Elvis” Colin Farrell in “The Banshees of Inisherin” Brendan Fraser in “The Whale” — WINNER Paul Mescal in “Aftersun” Bill Nighy in “Living”

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett in “Tár” Ana de Armas in “Blonde” Andrea Riseborough in “To Leslie” Michelle Williams in “The Fabelmans” Michelle Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER

Best Directing

“The Banshees of Inisherin” Martin McDonagh “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert — WINNER “The Fabelmans” Steven Spielberg “Tár” Todd Field “Triangle of Sadness” Ruben Östlund

Best Picture

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Malte Grunert, Producer “Avatar: The Way of Water” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers “The Banshees of Inisherin” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers “Elvis” Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers — WINNER “The Fabelmans” Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers “Tá”r Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers “Top Gun: Maverick” Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers “Triangle of Sadness” Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers “Women Talking” Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

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honorarycassowary · 1 year

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things I read/watched this week

Southern Cross vol. 1 by Becky Cloonan, Andy Belanger, and Lee Loughridge

sci-fi comic about a woman travelling by spaceship to Titan, where her sister has been murdered, in hopes of getting answers

gorgeous art and coloring work, and I’m always down for a science fiction + eldritch horrors story. I didn’t click with the protagonist, though, and the way she interacted with other characters felt very streamlined for the sake of plot convenience.

apparently it got cancelled midway through the final story arc, so I’m not continuing this. It was a decent enough source of entertainment for something I bought for $2 secondhand.

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared

I was vaguely aware that there was a sequel TV show to the original series and this week I was consumed with the need to watch it. It’s good! The expansion from ~4 minutes to ~22 minutes is smooth, and the artistic and comedic styles are retained without getting dull.

I really enjoy the felt puppetry/stop-motion style.

My fave episode was definitely Transport. The growing desperation of Red Guy trying to escape and the surreal ending were excellent.

If you liked this, I’d also recommend watching An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It

Hidden Killers of the [Tudor/Victorian/Edwardian/Post-War] Home

it’s a documentary series ~4 hours in length, all about deadly household appliances throughout history! It’s fascinating. Did you know chimneys can explode if not ventilated and cleaned properly? Do you know how horrifically unsafe early electrical installations were?

It’s not all gore and horror - all installments highlight social and technological change and how those factors play into the ways people die at home.

The only downside is that I want More. What about the hidden killers of the Georgian home? Or hidden killers in other cultures? I really like looking at historical everyday life and its up and downs.

#cassowary conversation

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heywoodsays · 1 year

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Oscar Picks 2023, Part II: Specialty Categories

In this second part of my Oscar picks for this year, I’ll be covering some of the more specialty categories. In the last segment, I addressed how Oscar voting works and how it can lead to some surprising winners. This is especially true in these categories.

Not everyone can vote in some of these categories. Some, like the short films and international feature, require that Academy voters see all the nominated entries, which often takes place at screenings, where voters often interact with each other. This also means that how widely a film has been distributed or viewed shouldn’t influence the outcome, although that isn’t always the case.

Documentary Feature

Nominees:

All That Breathes

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Fire of Love

A House Made of Splinters

Navalny

Navalny seems poised to win, after victories at the BAFTAs and Producers Guild Awards. With current sentiments towards Russian government in wake of the war in Ukraine, the thematic material is likely to resonate with voters.

Fire of Love has some notable wins under its belt (Chicago Film Critics, Online Film Critics, Satellite Awards, and the Directors Guild) and wider distribution, being available on Disney+. But it probably lacks the political punch that has helped previous winners in this category like An Inconvenient Truth and Bowling for Columbine.

Another film that might have that edge is All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which details Nan Goldin’s efforts to take on the Sackler family for their role in the opioid epidemic. It won the Independent Spirit Award last week and was the pick of both the NY and LA Film Critics.

Who will win: Navalny

But look out for: Fire of Love

Who I’d vote for: Fire of Love

If I could add one more: Descendant

Documentary Short

Nominees:

The Elephant Whisperers

Haulout

How Do You Measure a Year?

The Martha Mitchell Effect

Stranger at the Gate

This may be a race between The Elephant Whisperers and Stranger at the Gate. The former has the wide reach of a Netflix audience and is making big waves (and animal stories traditionally do well in this category). The latter has the backing of Malala Yousafzai as executive producer.

The Martha Mitchell Effect may rely too heavily on archival footage to make an impact in this category. How Do You Measure a Year? is highly engaging and should be lauded for its concept and executive. But Haulout may benefit from a climate change angle (and it’s another animal picture).

Who will win: The Elephant Whisperers

But look out for: Stranger at the Gate

Who I’d vote for: Haulout

If I could add one more: Nuisance Bear

Short Film (Live Action)

Nominees:

An Irish Goodbye

Ivalu

Le pupille

Night Ride

The Red Suitcase

This isn’t as strong a category as in other years. An Irish Goodbye seems to be leading the pack after its BAFTA win. It’s also the only English-language entry in the category, which gives it an advantage.

But the thematic material of The Red Suitcase may be more appealing to American and international audiences. There could also be competition from Le pupille, which has some name recognition behind it in the form of producer Alfonso Cuarón, a four-time Oscar winner.

Who will win: The Red Suitcase

But look out for: An Irish Goodbye

Who I’d vote for: The Red Suitcase

If I could add one more: Snow in September

Short Film (Animated)

Nominees:

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

The Flying Sailor

Ice Merchants

My Year of Dicks

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It

Now, this is a really fun category. The shorts are all wonderful in their own right, with one in particularly creating a viral moment at the nominations announcement. It’s hard not to appreciate the animation and tenderness of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse even if the dialogue can seem like a string of inspirational poster quotes. It also has Annie and BAFTA wins behind it.

Portugal’s Ice Merchants is equally touching and has a few festival wins and an Annie award behind, but a win seems like a bigger stretch for it. The media attention behind My Year of Dicks might throw some force behind its nomination. It is equally deserving, with its creative use of varied animation techniques and genres to create its different chapters. Besides, wouldn’t it be great to have that announced as the winner?

Who will win: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse

But look out for: My Year of Dicks

Who I’d vote for: Ice Merchants or My Year of Dicks

If I could add one more: Black Slide

Animated Feature

Nominees:

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

The Sea Beast

Turning Red

This category may be as sure a bet as anything. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio has almost swept the table. Two notable aberrations were the National Board of Review and New York Film Critics who each selected the charming Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. It’s hard to argue with Pinocchio — the animation is exceptional and the retelling imaginative. But Marcel is just so adorable.

Who will win: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

But look out for: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Who I’d vote for: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

If I could add one more: Wendell & Wild

International Feature

Nominees:

All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)

Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)

Close (Belgium)

EO (Poland)

The Quiet Girl (Ireland)

When Argentina, 1985 won the Golden Globe in this category, I’m not sure many people expected the explosion of support for Edward Berger’s German-language adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, which was also the basis for the third ever Best Picture Oscar winner in 1930. This new setting has a perspective the first movie didn’t — that Europe went to war again, largely due to the aftereffects of the first war. As such, it offers a new perspective, which along with its outstanding cinematography, score, and performances, make it more engaging to modern audiences.

EO should not be discounted. It’s taken top prizes from the National Society of Film Critics and the NY and LA Film Critics. It also won the Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes.

But to me, no film in any language was better than the heart-wrenching tale in Lukas Dhont’s Close. In addition to the Grand Prix at Cannes and a number of other international accolades, it also was the pick of the National Board of Review.

Who will win: All Quiet on the Western Front

But look out for: EO

Who I’d vote for: Close

If I could add one more: Decision to Leave

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Up next... Part III: The Big 8

#movies #Oscar picks #Navalny #The Elephant Whisperers #The Red Suitcase #The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse #Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio #Marcel the Shell with Shoes On #All Quiet on the Western Front #Close

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