The Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films of 2015

[StevePulaski]

Parvaneh (2012)
Directed by: Talkhon Hamzavi

Nissa Kashani.

Rating: ★★½

Parvaneh (Nissa Kashani) is a young Afghan woman, working in Switzerland and gaining much-needed money for her family. She wants to wire money to her home country, but her minor status and invalid ID serve as a roadblock for her. She meets an eighteen-year-old teen girl named Emily (Cheryl Graf), who will kindly wire the money for her in addition to offering her momentary companionship until she has to return to her homeland.

Talkhon Hamzavi's Parvaneh is so simple and built on this minimalist relationship that, at twenty-five minutes long, is just asking to be underdeveloped and half-baked. Rather than making the teen girls act like ordinary teen girls, with a lot on their minds and little time to get it all out, Hamzavi casts the short in such a minimalistic light that little gets revealed about the private lives of these girls, and, in turn, there's not a great deal of development or connection that can be formed to these two fairly empty individuals. On a side-note, however, Kashani and Graf strike up a solid chemistry, leading to believe had Parvaneh been extended to a feature-length film that we would've gotten a deeper, more impacting relationship out of them than the stunted one we have here. Even when the short tries to be gritty and a bit seedy, having the two girls go to a club late one night with Parvaneh nearly being publicly molested, it's too little and ends in a predictable manner, with few repercussions and little impact whatsoever.

Starring: Nissa Kashani and Cheryl Graf.

Butter Lamp (2013)
Directed by: Wei Hu

Rating: ★½

Wei Hu's Butter Lamp is a short film that would be the kind of profound statement on culture, a generational divide, or a shifting time period if it actually had something remotely compelling to say. It concerns a photographer and his assistant as the two men work to create photos for families that stand before a large backdrop, which can be chosen from a wide variety of different landmarks and settings. We see old and young people alike stand before the backdrop, pictures snapped, and small talk exchanged for sixteen minutes.

Anyone remember taking a trip to that quirky photography place at the mall with your family and how agonizing it was to stand still for five minutes while all the members in your family had to perfect their poses so they can receive a portrait that will collect dust on your mantle? Imagine watching the first part of that play out in a short film with nothing remotely compelling to say outside of casual small talk between the photographers and those being photographed.

Usually, I can appreciate such low-key craft, but that craft has to have some element of commentary, realism, or humanity within it and Butter Lamp is the very definition of a short with a great idea that isn't carried out in the slightest. Being that this short hails from France/China, is this a commentary on the conflicting generations or the byproduct of "old and new" demographics within the respective countries? Wei Hu never develops the short beyond its basic idea and that makes this entire endeavor incredibly flat and disappointing.

Starring: Genden Punstock. Directed by: Wei Hu.

The Phone Call (2013)
Directed by: Mat Kirkby

Rating: ★★★½

The Phone Call concerns Heather (Sally Hawkins), a shy, reclusive woman who works as a dispatcher for a crisis hotline. One day, she picks up the phone to hear an elderly man sobbing profusely on the other end. Being the professional that she is, she slowly talks to him and gets him to reveal his current situation. The man states he is "Stanley" (voiced by Jim Broadbent), a man who lost his wife Joan a few years ago and has taken a handful of antidepressants in order to cope with the mental pain. He doesn't want Heather to call an ambulance; he has made up his mind about ending his life and is content with his decision. He just wants companionship before he fades away.

This is a somber short film that sneaks up on you with the way Stanley's undying love for his wife comes through, as he tells Heather stories and details about his wife, along with being so content about his extreme decision. Hawkins plays her character wonderfully, exuding shyness and fright, despite keeping her professionalism throughout the entire ordeal, in a profoundly affecting manner. Broadbent, though he is no more than a voice throughout the short, also provides one with spine-tingling urgency, as his voice captivates, giving off each emotion and vocal-quiver with a great deal of sincerity and believability. Directed Mat Kirkby's camera shoots all the right things, in addition, from close-ups on Heather's small, reserved movements or her notes on Stanley, filling the environment with simultaneously unsettling and tranquil vibes.

The Phone Call instantly reminds me of Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, a short documentary which, like The Phone Call, won an Oscar for its respective category. That film showed the daily routines of several dispatchers at a crisis hotline, helping numerous souls, in this case, veterans, who were on the teetering edge of suicide and either needed companionship or some sort of guidance. Judging by these two beautifully-made shorts, the relationship dispatchers form with their callers through the means of a telephone is one that we will likely see develop and grow overtime, and if such an idea is carried out with the kind of heartbreaking realism and brutal honesty these two shorts have depicted, I'm all for it.

Starring: Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent. Directed by: Mat Kirkby.

Aya (2012)
Directed by: Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis

Sarah Adler.

Rating: ★★★½

At thirty-nine minutes, Aya is by far the longest of the 2015 Oscar nominated live action short films, and alongside The Phone Call, it's the best, as it focuses on an unlikely friendship that develops over complete and total chance. We focus on Aya (Sarah Adler), who is awaiting the arrival of her friend at the airport. We see a gaggle of drivers, holding signs and awaiting the arrival of their own passengers who they need to escort to their appropriate destination. When one driver has to move his car, he momentarily bears the responsibility of seeking out his particular client on another driver, who needs to take off and get his own client where he needs to be. Aya, the first person the perplexed driver sees, hands the extra sign to her, and sure enough, the client, named Mr. Overby (Ulrich Thomson), shows up and expects a ride.

Aya impulsively ditches her friend before her arrival to take Mr. Overby where he needs to be. It's not his fault that the other driver was incompetent, we believe is Aya's rationale to doing what she is doing, but through a conversation between the two about following orders do we get a sense of Aya as a person. While Mr. Overby believes in never following ones' heart and that we as human beings should be rational when it comes to our decision making, Aya is more impulsive and wayward, not quite understanding what she is doing at all times (like now) but feels a nudge to do what seems right in a momentary sense.

Aya is a beautiful short film because it understands the beauty of character and character motivations, confining two individuals, who should've never met each other in the first place, to a small space (a vehicle) for an extended period of time, as they embark on a peculiar destination and enjoy the company of one another along the way. Directors Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis understand that it's possible for Aya not to know why she does what she does, but to focus on her selfless behavior and her embracement of all that is impulsive is a delightfully original concept explored to great effect here, given such a short runtime. Aya works because it's not only emotionally honest, but rich and full in the sense of character exploration.

Starring: Sarah Adler and Ulrich Thomson. Directed by: Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis.

Boogaloo and Graham (2014)
Directed by: Michael Lennox

Jamesy (Riley Hamilton) and Malachy (Aaron Lynch) in Boogaloo and Graham.

Rating: ★★★

The concluding short in the Shorts HD sponsored special of the Oscar nominated live action short films of 2015 is also the most narratively and thematically simple. Boogaloo and Graham focuses on two young brothers, Jamesy (Riley Hamilton) and Malachy (Aaron Lynch), from Northern Island, who are gifted two baby chickens by their father (Martin McCann) at a young age. The two brothers nurse, care for, and love their chickens with all their hearts, using them as a distraction from the repercussions of military-occupied Ireland.

When their father and mother (Charlene McKenna) announce they are expecting a baby, that means the two beloved chickens - named Boogaloo and Graham - need to go, much to the dismay of the boys. This short, while admittedly slight fluff, shows how occasionally fair and blatantly unfair adults can be, not providing justification for their actions nor thinking through what they are teaching their children. Boogaloo and Graham functions in that cute and nostalgic feeling of childhood whimsy and optimism, despite this particular short being set in a place evidently burdened by an outside force. Because it gets an uncommon idea right, it deserves to at least be seen; being nominated is a different story.

Starring: Riley Hamilton, Aaron Lynch, Martin McCann, and Charlene McKenna. Directed by: Michael Lennox.