Welcome
to our special OSCAR WEEK SERIES of
reviews. This series will go through the seven categories in which an award is
given based on the entire film (rather than any one constituent element). This
second review in the series will go through the ANIMATED SHORT nominees.
BLIND VAYSHA
Blind Vaysha is a short film out of
Canada by director Theodore Ushev. The short tells the story of a girl who was
born effectively blind with one eye only seeing things in the future and one
eye only seeing things in the past. This was a really interesting and
captivating short that was an artfully designed and well executed concept.
The
real strengths of this piece are Ushev’s ingenuity and cleverness in creating
the story. The idea of this character with this seeming gift yet,
simultaneously, serious ailment was really interesting and had me questioning
everything as a viewer. I also thought that the story was generally well told.
The art design was interesting but sort of limited and left something to be
desired especially in comparison to the concept at large. I think this is a
genuinely great short film and one worth checking out!
Ryan’s Score: 8.5/10
BORROWED TIME
Borrowed Time is a short film developed
through the Pixar University co-op program by animators Andrew Coates
and Lou Hamou-Lhadj. The short tells the story of an old sheriff who visits the
scene of a traumatic event from his past. This is one of the best animated
shorts I have seen and goes above and beyond anything you would expect.
This short is great because it manages to tell a deeply
emotionally complex story almost entirely through effective animation. There is
dialogue in the film but it is subtle and doesn’t tell the emotional story that
the film itself tells through use of dark and lights as well as subtle visual
clues that gets the audience to a point where the weight of the drama hits them
like a tonne of bricks. I think this is a really top notch film and one of the
most emotionally moving pieces of cinema I saw in 2016, short or no.
Ryan’s Score: 9.5/10
Extended review here.
PEAR CIDER AND
CIGARETTES
Pear Cider and Cigarettes is an adult short film from
Canada by director Robert Valley. The short tells the story of a character
named Rob and his difficult and trying relationship with a self-destructive childhood
friend who requires help when he is at a hospital in China. I found this film
to be interesting but not overwhelming.
The
central conceit of the film is pretty simple: it is a guy telling the audience
about his charismatic, self-destructive friend and the relationship they had.
At the start of the film we’re told the eventual fate of the friend and it set
up like it was going to be some kind of noir mystery which had me fully
invested from moment one. As the film progressed, however, I began to realize
that that wasn’t the point at all and it was really a long (for a short film)
and detailed character piece about this interesting figure. The film had me
most of the way through but I admit I have thought very little of it since and
the animation left much to be desired. I think this is a worthwhile short film
to check out but not one people need to see by any stretch of the imagination.
Ryan’s Score: 7/10
PEARL
Pearl is a short film written and
directed by Patrick Osbourne that tells the story of a father and daughter in a
car as he struggles to make it as a musician and she comes of age. This short
is stylistically interesting but overall left almost no impression on me at
all.
Pearl isn’t unpleasant to watch by
any means and it does have an interesting style of animation that makes it feel
somewhat worthwhile. The story generally works as well. I think the biggest
problem Pearl has is that I just did
not care about it. I had no investment in the story at all and really just felt
nothing from a story that I think was supposed to make you feel something. I
can’t say this is bad, but I wouldn’t call it good either.
Ryan’s Score: 6/10
PIPER
Piper is the latest short film
from Pixar. The film played in front of their latest film Finding Dory. The short, directed by Alan Barillaro, tells the
story of a young sandpiper being taught to find food and having to overcome
obstacles after an initially traumatic experience. This is, simply put, one of
the best short films I have ever seen.
Piper is delightful from start to
finish. It gets you instantly invested with cuteness and proceeds to go so much
beyond that by telling a simple yet clever coming of age story that is really
quite beautiful. Speaking of beauty, the animation in this short is simply
spectacular. Pixar does a lot of their experimental work through their short
films and to see the level of realism from the feathers on the bird to every
single grain of sand I was gob-smacked. This is absolutely incredible and
belongs in the annals of the great Pixar shorts from years gone by. Piper is beautiful technically and in
story and is a short film everyone should go see immediately.
Ryan’s Score: 10/10
Check out Lisa’s full review here.
PICKS AND PREDICTIONS:
Ryan’s Pick: Piper
Ryan’s Pick: Piper
Ryan’s Prediction: Piper
GoldDerby Experts Prediction:
Piper
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