Best Live Action Short Film: Ranking Every Oscar Nominee
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Last year’s winner: The Neighbors’ Window.
The last shorts category we can look at are the live action short films, and we have a relatively strong pool this year. What more can I say about these short films that I haven’t covered in the other two categories? I’m looking at the films that pull off a fully fledged plot, developed characters, and other narrative and artistic achievements in their short durations (ranging from a few minutes to forty in total). Which film fulfilled these requirements the best? Which will actually win? Here are your nominees.
Biggest Snub: The Human Voice
Pedro Almodóvar’s English language debut was heavily touted as a possible frontrunner for this category when the awards season began, so not seeing it here at all is very strange. He has transferred his iconic colourful, genre-bending style in a way that works so well here; in a different language, and in a short, half hour time frame. This boat is steered by Tilda Swinton (perfect casting, as far as I’m considered), and The Human Voice — built on loneliness and the slow downfall into insanity — just felt like such a current voice during the worldwide pandemic.
5. The Letter Room
Last year’s winner The Neighbors’ Window just felt like a short that happens, has a little too much narrative juice stuffed into it, and not enough world or character building. It feels like an unfinished idea. That’s exactly how I feel about this year’s The Letter Room, where I feel like the same message and/or idea could have been conveyed in even less. This could have worked in the opposite direction: as a fully fledged motion picture, with even more steps and revelations. Right in between a concise short and a feature film just didn’t do it for me. I feel like we’re not getting enough of what we should know, or we’re getting too much of what we already are familiar with. The result is a bit of a flimsy tale, hinged on such an interesting premise (a corrections officer moved into the titular letter room against his best wishes, who gets involved in the lives of a criminal and his lover back home).
Rating: 3/5
4. Feeling Through
We’re at the second last spot, and yet the quality of the next batch of shorts just leaps so high up. Feeling Through is one of those feel-good stories that fully warrants its emotions; I can only imagine other filmmakers stretching this out to a feature and really spreading the story thin, but here it is just the right length. The connection between a struggling teen and a DeafBlind man is a special one, that is only barely overly encouraged; it is a truly humbling and magnetic film for the most part. You get all of the information you need out of both people, their conflicts, and a fork-in-the-road where only one of those dilemmas can be resolved. It’s also quite something to see a film with the first DeafBlind actor ever.
Rating: 4/5
3. The Present
There is a primary mission in The Present: a husband wants to buy his wife an anniversary gift. Simple enough, right? However, he has to cross the Israeli Checkpoint there and back, since he intends on getting to Beitunia. There’s an interesting parallel created in this conflict, in the form of his daughter who comes along on this errand. We see her problems in relation to what adults face, and having to go to the bathroom is a natural human process, whereas political turmoil is something we’ve created ourselves. The title is also a clever play on words, since we’re concerned about the gift making its way home, but we’re also looking at the present state of some parts of the world. The Present is witty, succinct, and fully realized.
Rating: 4/5
2. White Eye
In a weird form of coincidence, White Eye is so similar to The Present, but even more precise, and tethered to a metaphor that is figured out so well (in the form of a bicycle, which isn’t a gift this time around, but was rather stolen and then found by its original owner). Filmed in one continuous shot (which creates so much uneasiness), White Eye is also a commentary on sociopolitical chaos in and around Israel (again, like The Present), and its numerous confrontations get more and more difficult to witness (the single shot makes it feel like we’re a bystander). White Eye gives more and more information that renders it an anxious watch, but it doesn’t give too many new ideas or revelations; it does just enough to feel complete, interesting, and nerve wracking the entire watch.
Rating: 4.5/5
1. Two Distant Strangers
I’m very torn between my top two picks, but there is something a little extra that Two Distant Strangers provided that gives it the narrow win for me. It is a nice half hour long, sure, but it still feels like I watched an entire film in such a little amount of time (almost like one of those brief Kanye West produced works of 2018, or Pink Moon by Nick Drake, where you feel like you’ve had an entire hours worth of experiences in less than thirty minutes). This is because every second is used so precisely. As well, a personal bias is that I am so glad to finally see a film that copies Groundhog Day in such a fresh, inventive way; the day repeating here represents the endless struggle for African Americans to be treated as regular people by figures of authority (particularly police officers, here). There’s even — what I perceived to be — a great crack at Green Book, where a racist white cop is driving the lead character (played brilliantly by Joe Bada$$) and is suddenly cured of his bigotry; Two Distant Strangers is so much wiser about this, though, as you’ll see for yourself. It’s like this short channelled a number of things we understand in a new light, to get a crucial message about racist violence out there; it is also a pivotal cinematic tribute to the many black lives lost at the hands of police brutality.
Rating: 4.5/5
Who I want to win: The two best shorts for me were Two Distant Strangers and White Eye, which both implemented clever niches and used up their brief durations so effectively. I’d be happy with either of those winning.
Who I think will win: As it currently stands, my least favourite and top favourite picks (The Letter Room, and Two Distant Strangers) are the frontrunners to win. While the former is presently in the lead, Two Distant Strangers just got released on Netflix today (it has been presented in the Academy’s short packages theatrically already, hence how I saw it, but so is The Letter Room), so maybe it will get an immediate push from the public eye. I personally find that the more popular shorts tend to be picked; if no shorts are considerably popular in one year, it’s a bit of a crapshoot to decide who will win. Has The Letter Room been popular long enough to win? I know deep down it will likely win, but I’m going against my gut and am currently picking Two Distant Strangers to swoop in and change fate.
Tune in tomorrow for our next Academy Award category! We’re reviewing every single nominee.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.