The 2005 Academy Award Nominated Short Films

I was going to make a post last night about the next 36 minutes of Dr. Strangelove, but I got distracted when my brother and his friend began watching a DVD of the 2005 Academy Award Nominated Short Films. Although a Dr. Strangelove post may happen, I must much more interested in understanding what constitutes a short film, how they were done, and how impressed I was by them.
I only saw four out of the five nominated films, but they were each terrific in their own way. The films were:
Cashback (United Kingdom, 19 minutes) directed by Sean Ellis
Sidasti Baerinn (The Last Farm), (Iceland, 15 minutes)directed by Runar Runarsson
Our Time is Up (USA, 14 minutes) directed by Rob Pearlstein
Six Shooter (Ireland, 27 minutes) directed by Martin McDonagh, director of In Bruges

Each of these films were absolutely incredibly, in their own way, and although I don't know much about short films, they seemed to be the best of the best. I believe that my brothers' friend got the DVD of all 5 from Blockbuster so I'm sure it might be available through Netflix or something.

I must say, it was very interesting, how each movie how its own technique of brilliance, but none of them had all of the perfect characteristics. In terms of the filmmaking, the most original and ambitious film in terms of story was Cashback which told the story of a night shift supermarket worker who survives the boredom of the day through his daydreams, but I won't give away what those are.

The 2nd film, The Last Farm, was honestly the most beautifully shot movie that I have ever seen. The cinematography was simply outstanding and although it was a slow, also silent film, it worked better that way because the actors' emotions and the way the story was told, through the filming, was far more effective and truly beautiful. It was very interesting however, and I wonder if it was conscious but one of the first shots of this film reminded me almost exactly of the first shot of The Seventh Seal when Antonius Block is on the rocks of the beach. Here, once again, the shot begins in the ocean and slowly pans to a rocky beach, just like in the Seventh Seal. Immediately, when I saw the shot, I said, "It's the Seventh Seal in color" and the shot was done just as effectively although the character of Death specifically was not standing there. This film also had a very good story, in which it told the story of an older man, who had the last remaining farm, the rest were abandoned, and how he spent his time. It was a vivid, emotional story.

The 3rd movie, was an American comedy, called Our Time Is Up. This movie was brilliantly hilarious and just cleverly written. The entire film, almost a satire but with more obvious humor, had me laughing nearly the entire film. The cast of characters were absolutely terrific actors and the editing of the film was its other great strong point. The way the movie was shot and how scenes were edited together, and repeated with variations, was impressively done, and the comedy was first-rate. This film, tells the story of a psycharitrist who treats his patients much like a normal, detached psycharitrist, and the events that ensue. The length of it and the comic timing just worked perfectly, and I thought that its acting stole the movie.

The final film, Six Shooter, as I mentioned, was directed By Martin McDonagh, director of In Bruges. (Ok, so now I have forced Benny to go out and see this movie, and make him watch all of them in the process.) Interestingly enough, it also started Brandon Gleeson, the fat Irish friend of Colin Farrell (He also plays Mad-Eye Moody in Harry Potter) and who had the main role in In Bruges. This film had the most compelling story, as it told the story of a man dealing with the loss of his wife and his trip back home, dealing with the grief. The strongest point of this film was the deep, complex story as well as the vivid interaction between the different characters. It was filmed much like In Bruges, and because McDonagh also wrote the film, it of course, had incredibly witty and hilarious dialogue, and the writing was clever as always. This was the longest film, and certainly had the most substance, because of its length. The way McDonagh filmed many of the scenes, the character interaction, mimicked or even mirrored much of the action in In Bruges, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. As well, much of the morally ambiguous points of In Bruges are present in this film.

All of these films were terrific, told compelling stories, were beautifully shot, and I enjoyed each of them immensely for their own reasons, except Cashback which was my least favorite, but it was certainly creative. I would suggest each of you, or at least anyone interested, should try to get a copy of it, because it opened my eyes to the world of shorts, and showed me four terrific films. Although I want tell you which movie won the Oscar, I'm going to make you try to figure it out or watch for yourself. (Of course, you could just go to IMDB and search it very simply, but that ruins all the fun now doesn't it.) So, if you get the chance, try to take a look at them, or at least find them online.