OVP: Best Animated Short Film (2019)
The Nominees Were...
Daria Kashcheeva, Dcera
Matthew A. Cherry & Karen Rupert Toliver, Hair Love
Rosana Sullivan & Kathryn Hendrickson, Kitbull
Bruno Collet & Jean-Francois Le Corre, Memorable
Siqi Song, Sister
Matthew A. Cherry & Karen Rupert Toliver, Hair Love
Rosana Sullivan & Kathryn Hendrickson, Kitbull
Bruno Collet & Jean-Francois Le Corre, Memorable
Siqi Song, Sister
My Thoughts: Normally we don't do the OVP write-ups A) on a day that isn't Wednesday or B) before I've finished the full year for the OVP, which I haven't yet done as I still have four screenings left. However, we break that rule when we step outside of the OVP, and that's what we're doing today as the OVP doesn't include the short films or documentaries (for reasons I mention here). Even though this isn't the "official OVP" I saw all of the nominees in the category, and so I'm going to give this the true "Official OVP Ballot" sendoff. I'm working my way pretty swiftly through the remaining nominees (I got two more done this weekend), so we hopefully will have an update on the 2019 OVP again, perhaps as early as this autumn, but for now, let's discuss the Animated Shorts.
Of all of the above movies, there's one that is going to likely stand out to you, and that's Hair Love, because it's the one you're most likely to have seen in theaters already. Hair Love is the only one of these movies to accompany a major motion picture release (The Angry Birds Movie 2), so if you're wondering where you've seen it, that might provide clarity. The film is adorable, and well-drawn. It shows a young black girl whose father is perplexed how to do her hair, and we learn as the movie goes on that the reason that she's getting her hair done by her father is that her mother is in the hospital with cancer. It's moving, sweet, and lovingly-animated. Not breaking particularly new ground from an animator's perspective, but it's a fun story and an easy crowd-pleaser if you're wanting to show this to your kids or someone that might not want to get into, say, the more "artistic" entries this year.
That person should avoid Dcera, arguably the most confusing of these entries. Though the stop-motion animation is sometimes luminous, its story is confusing and feels like it's missing an element. I don't oftentimes ask for more narration in these types of stories, but it might have helped as it's not entirely clear why the bratty daughter in the movie seems to loathe her father so much, and as this is a central component to the picture, I think it largely fails. This is a movie that won the Student Academy Award, a potential harbinger of a future cinematic talent (Spike Lee, Robert Zemeckis, and John Lasseter, among others, won Student Academy Awards early in their careers), but I left feeling pretty cold from this picture.
The other avant garde nominee I liked considerably better. Memorable is not breaking a lot of new ground in terms of story-this is yet another animated short discussing the struggles of aging, particularly when it comes to Alzheimer's, but it's fascinatingly drawn. The film shows a painter and his wife struggling as he loses his memory, and the animation leans into this, watching his world crumble in a series of paint drips and muddled faces. It's hard to tell what's happening from the wife's perspective (is it just that the main character doesn't realize that she knows what's happening, or is it genuinely that she's not seeing the clear signs of dementia?), but that's the film's biggest fault, and it's the most memorably constructed animation of the bunch.
The same cannot be said for Sister, a movie that has a late twist that should be easy to see coming if you know anything about Chinese history (that, based on the timeline of the film, this man simply couldn't have had a sister as it would have been illegal). The film's twist is really the only thing it has going for it, as the animation is neither inventive nor gorgeous, and I left kind of cold. Every year there's at least one nominee that I wonder why it was singled out as it feels pretty ordinary either through design or plot-this is the case this year.
While Hair Love is the only one of these shorts to have received a wide release, it's possible you've also seen Kitbull. This is because it's on Disney+, and the Mouse House's only player this year (weirdly they didn't put any short films in front of Frozen II or Toy Story 4 which has been their wont in recent years). The movie is adorable. Though drawn like it'd be from a more independent branch (it doesn't have the obvious plushness of Pixar's more recent entries at the Oscars), it's full of heart as we see a street cat befriend a pitbull that is being used for dog-fighting. It's sweet, nearly wordless, and inventively animated, particularly the title cat.
Of all of the above movies, there's one that is going to likely stand out to you, and that's Hair Love, because it's the one you're most likely to have seen in theaters already. Hair Love is the only one of these movies to accompany a major motion picture release (The Angry Birds Movie 2), so if you're wondering where you've seen it, that might provide clarity. The film is adorable, and well-drawn. It shows a young black girl whose father is perplexed how to do her hair, and we learn as the movie goes on that the reason that she's getting her hair done by her father is that her mother is in the hospital with cancer. It's moving, sweet, and lovingly-animated. Not breaking particularly new ground from an animator's perspective, but it's a fun story and an easy crowd-pleaser if you're wanting to show this to your kids or someone that might not want to get into, say, the more "artistic" entries this year.
That person should avoid Dcera, arguably the most confusing of these entries. Though the stop-motion animation is sometimes luminous, its story is confusing and feels like it's missing an element. I don't oftentimes ask for more narration in these types of stories, but it might have helped as it's not entirely clear why the bratty daughter in the movie seems to loathe her father so much, and as this is a central component to the picture, I think it largely fails. This is a movie that won the Student Academy Award, a potential harbinger of a future cinematic talent (Spike Lee, Robert Zemeckis, and John Lasseter, among others, won Student Academy Awards early in their careers), but I left feeling pretty cold from this picture.
The other avant garde nominee I liked considerably better. Memorable is not breaking a lot of new ground in terms of story-this is yet another animated short discussing the struggles of aging, particularly when it comes to Alzheimer's, but it's fascinatingly drawn. The film shows a painter and his wife struggling as he loses his memory, and the animation leans into this, watching his world crumble in a series of paint drips and muddled faces. It's hard to tell what's happening from the wife's perspective (is it just that the main character doesn't realize that she knows what's happening, or is it genuinely that she's not seeing the clear signs of dementia?), but that's the film's biggest fault, and it's the most memorably constructed animation of the bunch.
The same cannot be said for Sister, a movie that has a late twist that should be easy to see coming if you know anything about Chinese history (that, based on the timeline of the film, this man simply couldn't have had a sister as it would have been illegal). The film's twist is really the only thing it has going for it, as the animation is neither inventive nor gorgeous, and I left kind of cold. Every year there's at least one nominee that I wonder why it was singled out as it feels pretty ordinary either through design or plot-this is the case this year.
While Hair Love is the only one of these shorts to have received a wide release, it's possible you've also seen Kitbull. This is because it's on Disney+, and the Mouse House's only player this year (weirdly they didn't put any short films in front of Frozen II or Toy Story 4 which has been their wont in recent years). The movie is adorable. Though drawn like it'd be from a more independent branch (it doesn't have the obvious plushness of Pixar's more recent entries at the Oscars), it's full of heart as we see a street cat befriend a pitbull that is being used for dog-fighting. It's sweet, nearly wordless, and inventively animated, particularly the title cat.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Academy releases a shortlist of the films eligible for this award so we know that He Can't Live Without Cosmos, Horse Piste, Make My Mind, The Physics of Sorrow, and Uncle Thomas Accounting for Days were all relatively close to being on this list (Horse Piste, if you get to the theatrical release of the films from ShortsTV-and please do, it's fun to support this annual venture-is one of the "Highly Commended" nominees at the back half of the presentation & had my theater laughing hysterically). The BAFTA Awards didn't double on any films this year, instead choosing Granddad was a Romantic, In Her Boots, and The Magic Boat for its nominations.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Sadly they don't put short films before films with regularity anymore (don't you wish they did?) and so I don't get to see enough nominees to complain.
Oscar’s Choice: Hair Love took the trophy, likely in a bid over Kitbull (Disney is always close to a win here even when it doesn't take it).
My Choice: I hate that I always become something of a corporate shill with this category, but I swear I didn't actually know that Kitbull was Pixar until the end of the picture! It gets my prize, followed by Memorable, Hair Love, Dcera, and Sister.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Did you see these films, and if so, who did you cheer for? Share in the comments!
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