Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts Review (Also Austin is a Hipster City)

So I’m spending my February break in Austin, which is like a surprising hipster bastion in the middle of the yee-hawing gunslinging frying pan that is Texas. It is a strange situation.

The Alamo Drafthouse, for example, is not very much like the Alamo or a traditional drafthouse. The Alamo (at various locations; we went to South Lamar) in Austin greets you first with its selection of Princess Bride wines (“As You Wish White” and “Inconceivable Cab”), lightbulbs set in old film reels, and murals of retro movie scenes on the walls. Instead of trivia questions (“How many movies has Tom Hanks starred in that start with M?”) while you are waiting for the movie, they show old cartoons and news reals from the early 20th century; instead of a timid reminder to silence cell phones, they show a video clip of an old lady coming to beat you up if you speak or leave your cell phone on at all. On top of this, they serve pretty decent food that you can order throughout the film. Some people may call this Heaven (Who knew that Heaven would be in Texas?). The Alamo plays blockbusters, but also has events like Marlon Brando marathons and Princess Bride quote-alongs and – what I went to see last Sunday – a showing of the 5 Oscar-nominated short films.

All of the movies are 100% worth watching and you should go do it right now if you are doing nothing better (which I’m going to assume is the case). They range from a sad and stressful tale of moral ambiguity (Indian/German collaboration Raju) to a short (and brilliantly acted) depiction of an altar boy’s revenge (Pentecost).
The shortest film, Time Freak, has (arguably) the most pleasantly original plot scenario and is only 10 minutes. I recommend it (it’s on iTunes for 2 bucks and probably on the Internet somewhere illegally. But hey – support good filmmakers).

The most memorable part of the whole collection is in the Norwegian film Tuba Atlantic, directed by 27-year-old Hallvar Witzo. The film follows an old man, with a hatred for seagulls, who is told that he has 6 days to live. There is a sudden cut scene to Oskar (the dying guy) opening his door to a youthful, braces-bearing blonde girl, who says “Hi, I’m your local angel of death!”. If my vote were relevant, it’d be for Tuba Atlantic, I think.
I actually thought that the winner, The Shore, had the weakest acting of all of the films. That’s not too much of a slight, as all of the films were excellent, and the film’s ability to cram 25 years of backstory into a single, pivotal moment was impressive – but each of the other films, I thought, worked better with presenting interesting present moments and didn’t depend so much on measured history-exposition.

Go watch short films. Now.
I like short films – they seem more honest, especially plot-wise, than longer films, which sometimes just fill in an allotted time slot with pre-approved plot devices. The happy thing about short films is that their time constraints depend more on the demands of the story than anything else – the films nominated this year ranged from 10 minutes to over half an hour. Short films are worth your time; they are less likely to be contrived and the length allows them to develop honestly and cleanly, without being bogged down by the need to fill in time constraints or plot holes. So go see some, if you get the chance.