[THE 2013 OSCAR NOMINATED LIVE ACTION SHORT FILMS opens in Cleveland
on Friday February 1st exclusively at the Capitol Theatre.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
Henry
– we are introduced to henry, an elderly musician, as he is
playing piano in his home. We then follow him as he goes out for
lunch at a café where he is
encounters a middle aged woman who is out of breath for some reason.
Henry asks her to sit down and the two begin discussing Henry's past
when he notices a man in a wheelchair staring at him. Henry goes over
to confront the man who offers a cryptic warning; “they're looking
for you, Henry. Don't let them get you,” further adding that
Henry's wife Maria is in danger.
When Henry returns home looking for
Maria, the words of the stranger prove true. Before Henry has time to
react, he is restrained and drugged by unknown assailants. Upon
waking Henry finds himself strapped to a bed, with the woman from the
café apparently his
captor. Does Henry have some dark secret from his past that has come
back to haunt him? As it turns out the film has cleverly misdirected
us. It's not the thriller it seems to be, but a poignant drama about
aging that uses the structure and techniques of a thriller to very
different ends.
I suppose you could call this a “twist”
movie, but rather than the whole point being the twist, the twist
very effectively serves the story. Nothing about Henry
feels gimmicky, and the film offers far deeper rewards than mere
cheap surprise. I'm not familiar with the cast, who are mostly
veterans of French Canadian TV, but performances are universally
excellent. French Canadian TV is also were writer/director Yan
England comes from, although he too is primarily known as an actor.
If this film is any indication, he may want to consider being on the
other side of the camera more often. This is the one that should win.
Asad
– a Somalian boy named
Asad wants to join with his pirate friends, but is told he's too
young. So while the pirates go out on their latest mission, Asad
talks with the old fisherman in his village, who assures the boy that
one day he will bring back the biggest catch anyone has ever seen.
ASAD aims to be a
tribute to the spirit of hope living in the hearts of the Somali
people despite all the horrible things their country has been through
in recent years that comes up short with an ending that mixes
tragedy, goofy humor, and would-be uplift. Even if one gets the
symbolism of the white “lion”, it still feels trite.
Death Of A Shadow
– Drenched in an atmosphere of the fantastic and cheap emotional
manipulation, Death Of A Shadow
is all concept and visual style with no substance, no compelling
story, and no interesting characters. Sure,
writer/director Tom Van Avermaet does convey his theme of making
sacrifices in the name of love, but mostly he just seems intersted in
how everything looks.
Curfew
– junkie Richard's bathtub suicide attempt is interrupted by a
frantic call from his sister. She needs someone to watch her little
girl Sophia. Things are obviously desperate if she's calling Richard,
which perhaps awakens some dormant spark of responsibility and will
to live in the man. He decides to postpone death for at least one more night
and take on the task. This one is a bit operatic and rife with movie
clichés, but it hits the right emotional chords without being clumsy
about it and ultimately delivers a moving little drama.
Buzkashi Boys-
Set in Kabul, Afghanistan, this short centers on two young boys; Rafi
works for his father, while Ahmad is an orphan who begs on the
streets. After watching watching a local sporting event called
Buzkashi in which riders on horseback fight each other for possession
of a dead goat, the beggar boy announces that one day he will be a
Buzkashi rider. His friend, however, is resigned to his fate to be a
blacksmith like his father. And then something happens that changes
everything.
Not
only is Buzkashi Boys
the closest to a feature of all the nominees in terms of running time (it's a half
hour), it also feels like a feature in terms of theme, story, and
presentation. This isn't just a little slice of life or concept
piece, but a drama with a full arc. The cinematography finds beauty
in both nature and in the rubble of fallen palaces. While it's
equally moving as Henry,
it's neither as fresh or clever. Still, a very solid film overall and
one with a real shot at winning the award.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We approve all legitimate comments. However, comments that include links to irrelevant commercial websites and/or websites dealing with illegal or inappropriate content will be marked as spam.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.