Oscar Live-Action Short Films (2008)

The nominees from the 2009 Oscars (all released in 2008) for live action were a little more trouble for me to get a hold of this time around. The 2007 and 2008 Shorts were all released as a collection by Magnolia films. Starting in 2009, and again this year, they started releasing all the live action and animated short film nominees as a single theatrical film. Problem is they stopped putting out dvd's. After waiting over a year I finally found them all at the itunes store, and was able to get all of these, and next years [look for a post next week].

So like the animated nominees from 2009 [HERE] I have listed them in descending order, from favorite to leave favorite. Toyland: Spielzeugland won the Oscar, but I would have picked Auf der Strecke.

Film: On the Line: Auf der Strecke
Director: Reto Caffi
Runtime: 30 min
Country: Switzerland
Vote: 9/10
Review: My favorite by far. The story is about a man who works the security camera at a department store. He has fallen in love with an employee there, and since they take the same train home; he times leaving work so that they take the same one home every day. After a tragedy involving the girl and her brother that he could have intervened in, they begin talking. "Is he going to tell her?" is all that I could think about, it was gripping and interesting. All that you can ask for from a short film.



Film: The Pig: Grisen
Director: Dorthe Warnø Høgh
Runtime: 23 min
Country: Denmark
Vote: 8/10
Review: The simplest storyline. Man goes in for surgery, after an extended stay in the hospital he only has the painting on the wall for comfort. When the vacant bed in his room is filled, the picture mysteriously comes down. Turns out the family was offended... the family of a blind man was offended by a painting the man couldn't see. An interesting film about tolerance, I can see how some people would find it boring. I really liked it though. 


Film: New Boy
Director: Steph Green
Runtime: 11 min
Country: Ireland
Vote: 8/10
Review: I actually saw this one at a film festival in Fort Worth. To this day, it stands as the only short film I have ever seen in the theater before getting a nomination. It was also the only one of the five that I could find on youtube instead of having to purchase on itunes. The film is about an African boy that is the new kid in class. He just moved to Ireland we learn through tragic events. It is sad and heartwarming. A little too short to be my favorite, but it was my favorite at the festival so I was happy to see it included (I picked it for the win, and was wrong two years ago).


OSCAR WINNER
Film: Toyland: Spielzeugland
Director: Jochen Alexander Freydank
Runtime: 13 min
Country: Germany
Vote: 6/10
Review: A German film centered around World War II and concentration camps. Instant winner when it comes to the Academy.. even if it wasn't good and incredibly confusing. I actually watched it twice and I still couldn't put it together. Basically a mother tells her son that the neighbors are leaving for Toyland and that he cannot go. In reality they are being shipped off to concentration camps, and the boy sneaks off from his mother, and onto a train. All to pull off an elaborate swap to save the neighbor boy?


Film: Manon on the Asphalt: Manon sur le bitume
Director: Elizabeth Marre & Olivier Pont
Runtime: 15 min
Country: France
Vote: 6/10
Review: Manon gets into a wreck with a car. She is dieing on the street while the ambulance is arriving. Instead of reflecting back on her life, you know her life flashing before her eyes... she instead of thinking about how all her friends and family are going to coup with her dieing. Not a bad concept, but depressing, and in some ways incomplete.

Surprisingly I gave all 5 at least a 6 out of 10. Pretty good bunch actually, they all were at least average and three out of five I felt were worth watching. Hopefully next years are as good!

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