OVP: Best Live Action Short Film (2019)
The Nominees Were...
Meryam Joobeur & Maria Gracia Turgeon, Brotherhood
Yves Piat & Damien Megherbi, Nefta Football Club
Marshall Curry, The Neighbors' Window
Bryan Buckley & Matt Lefebvre, Saria
Delphine Girard, A Sister
Yves Piat & Damien Megherbi, Nefta Football Club
Marshall Curry, The Neighbors' Window
Bryan Buckley & Matt Lefebvre, Saria
Delphine Girard, A Sister
My Thoughts: As we did with Animated Shorts, I was able to get to the Live Action Shorts right before the Oscars. We don't normally do the OVP categories before we've completed the year (still have three films left in 2019 before we're there), but I make an exception for that categories we aren't "officially" profiling for the Oscar Viewing Project, and since I finished the Live Action shorts this year (and I don't want too much distance from the actual ceremony here), I thought why not bring it forward? Without further adieu, here are the nominees.
There are actually very few contenders this year that really required being a "short film" to make their point, rather than just were given that story thanks to brief writers & limited budgets. The one that surely wouldn't work in any other format is Nefta Football Club, which also happens to be the lightest of the films. The film is not as funny as it probably should be, and it's easy to see the film's big joke (I won't spoil it, but it involves mistaken amounts of cocaine) coming. The side characters in the desert don't make enough sense, and really the donkey threatens to steal the whole movie. All-in-all, not my favorite.
The other four could work as more than a short film, but in many ways we've done A Sister too often in this category in recent years. Frequently we've seen a look at either real-life or fictional 911 operators, and what heroes they are. I don't begrudge them such accolades, but once we understand what is happening, we know what will happen. Short films best attributes are frequently unpredictability, which are necessary to not feel like a slog. This film doesn't feel like a slog, but it doesn't capture the same level of urgency it probably needs to succeed.
Brotherhood, the other sibling-related title this year, does get across its urgency. Initially difficult to get into, the film captures the main characters' lifestyle, prejudice, and the difficulty in bridging political beliefs across generations. Watching as one young man returns from joining ISIS (something he claims late in the film to regret), but is still trying to do right by the young woman he has married...you get the sense that it's building to something, but when it ultimately shows the stakes we have for believing things we cannot understand-the film is haunting, and gorgeously lensed.
Saria doesn't have this same feel. The film is tragic, but of all of the films this year it's the one that feels the most repetitive, a death knell for a short film (since if it feels repetitive after a short amount of time, it has failed). The subject, based on real life, is rough, arguably the hardest of the five films to sit through, but it's not the somber attitude of the film that makes you wish that it'd hurry along-it's that the filmmakers need more time or more clarity to bring the main characters to life. Of all of the films, this is the one that feels like it's here more because it's "important" than because it's important.
The final nomination is The Neighbors' Window, the only English-language nominee, featuring 13 Reasons Why star Maria Dizzia. The film uses its time frame better than any others, creating compelling lead characters (a couple with several children who look in on a sexy couple across the street with envy), and watch as both their worlds turn. This isn't as "important" as other films, but that's not what this should be about-it should be about telling a compelling story, which The Neighbors' Window consistently does.
There are actually very few contenders this year that really required being a "short film" to make their point, rather than just were given that story thanks to brief writers & limited budgets. The one that surely wouldn't work in any other format is Nefta Football Club, which also happens to be the lightest of the films. The film is not as funny as it probably should be, and it's easy to see the film's big joke (I won't spoil it, but it involves mistaken amounts of cocaine) coming. The side characters in the desert don't make enough sense, and really the donkey threatens to steal the whole movie. All-in-all, not my favorite.
The other four could work as more than a short film, but in many ways we've done A Sister too often in this category in recent years. Frequently we've seen a look at either real-life or fictional 911 operators, and what heroes they are. I don't begrudge them such accolades, but once we understand what is happening, we know what will happen. Short films best attributes are frequently unpredictability, which are necessary to not feel like a slog. This film doesn't feel like a slog, but it doesn't capture the same level of urgency it probably needs to succeed.
Brotherhood, the other sibling-related title this year, does get across its urgency. Initially difficult to get into, the film captures the main characters' lifestyle, prejudice, and the difficulty in bridging political beliefs across generations. Watching as one young man returns from joining ISIS (something he claims late in the film to regret), but is still trying to do right by the young woman he has married...you get the sense that it's building to something, but when it ultimately shows the stakes we have for believing things we cannot understand-the film is haunting, and gorgeously lensed.
Saria doesn't have this same feel. The film is tragic, but of all of the films this year it's the one that feels the most repetitive, a death knell for a short film (since if it feels repetitive after a short amount of time, it has failed). The subject, based on real life, is rough, arguably the hardest of the five films to sit through, but it's not the somber attitude of the film that makes you wish that it'd hurry along-it's that the filmmakers need more time or more clarity to bring the main characters to life. Of all of the films, this is the one that feels like it's here more because it's "important" than because it's important.
The final nomination is The Neighbors' Window, the only English-language nominee, featuring 13 Reasons Why star Maria Dizzia. The film uses its time frame better than any others, creating compelling lead characters (a couple with several children who look in on a sexy couple across the street with envy), and watch as both their worlds turn. This isn't as "important" as other films, but that's not what this should be about-it should be about telling a compelling story, which The Neighbors' Window consistently does.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Academy releases a shortlist of the films eligible for this award so we know that The Christmas Gift, Little Hands, Miller & Son, Refugee, and Sometimes, I Think about Dying were all relatively close to being on this list. The BAFTA Awards went with an entirely different lineup (as is their typical prerogative) with Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If you're A Girl), which won the Documentary Short Oscar as they combine the two here, besting Azaar, Goldfish, Kamali, and The Trap, the latter of which was produced by actress Lena Headey.
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: Oscar has increasingly favored the English-language nominee here in recent years, so not a huge surprise to see The Neighbors' Window among the contenders.
My Choice: I'm going to give it to The Nieghbors' Window as well, though in a closer contest with Brotherhood than I initially would have thought after seeing the film. Follow that with A Sister, Nefta, and Saria.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Did you see these films, and if so, who did you cheer for? Share in the comments!
Also in 2019: Animated Short
Also in 2019: Animated Short
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