Take a look at the nominees in the live-action, animated and documentary short categories at this year's Academy Awards.
While the Academy Awards have decided not to present the shorts categories live this year—an absolutely ridiculous decision—the shorts categories have provided an opportunity for incredible filmmakers to get their films seen and their names known. The live-action shorts category has previously nominated filmmakers like Taika Waititi and Kenneth Branagh, and awarded people like Martin McDonagh and Andrea Arnold. The documentary shorts category has brought many important topics to light, while the animated shorts category has been what helped make studios like Pixar and Aardman Animations major players in the medium.Simply put, the shorts categories are always an exciting example of the future of filmmaking, and it’s a shame that these categories won’t get the spotlight they deserve at this year’s Oscars. However, the fifteen nominees at this year’s Oscars show a wide range of subject matter, styles, inventiveness, and experimentation. While a feature has plenty of time to explore its ideas, the shorts have to compress their great ideas into bite-size chunks—which is arguably even more impressive.Let’s take a look at this year’s Oscar-nominated live-action, documentary, and animated shorts.RELATED: The 2022 Oscar Nominated Scores, Ranked, from ‘Dune’ to ‘Encanto’
50 years ago, director Jay Rosenblatt, along with his entire fifth-grade class, bullied a kid, and the incident has stuck with him ever since. When We Were Bullies has Rosenblatt interviewing the various other students of his class to see what they remember about the child they bullied, and what—if anything—this moment meant to them. However, the key to When We Were Bullies is when Rosenblatt visits his fifth-grade teacher, who states that his film could be “tedious to watch.” She is 100% correct.
The only independent short in the documentary shorts category, When We Were Bullies focuses entirely on the kids who bullied the kid, known as “Richard,” and doesn’t bother to discuss the incident with Richard. This choice makes When We Were Bullies feel like little more than Rosenblatt’s own version of therapy about the scenario that almost no one remembers but him. In the end, Rosenblatt writes an egotistical letter to Richard which states that this story wasn’t about Richard at all, but about how people still are affected (i.e. Rosenblatt) by this choice over a half-century ago. In fact, When We Were Bullies should’ve been about Richard—at least somewhat—and this omission makes Rosenblatt still seem like the bully in this situation.
BoxBallet centers around the budding relationship between Evgeny, a perpetually beaten-up boxer, and Ilya, a petite ballerina that is a rising star. At times, this short from Russian animator Anton Dyakov has its moments of charm, especially when narrowing in on the dynamic between the two and their contrasts in attitude and look. Yet Dyakov also makes these characters inconsistent from scene-to-scene, seemingly for the point of creating some form of drama, leading to a disappointing and rather rushed conclusion.
For years, director Joanna Quinn has followed the character of Beryl (voiced by Menna Trussler) and her various interests and fixations. Fifteen years after Dreams and Desires: Family Ties, Beryl is back, this time with a newfound interest in painting. While Beryl is invested in her new pastime, even getting her husband involved as a nude subject, Beryl is also preoccupied with her sister, Beverly (voiced by Quinn), and her obsession with all things deceased. Like the other Beryl shorts, Quinn’s animation style features shaky pencil-drawn animations that seem as though they’ve been rattled off as quickly as Beryl’s thoughts fly through her head. But this style, and this combined with the attention to the odd proclivities of Beverly, can make Affairs of the Art one of the harder animated shorts to embrace.
Taking place in an Afghani refugee camp in Kabul, Three Songs for Benazir is the story of Shaista, who is recently married and wants to join the Afghan National Army, despite the wishes of his family. Directors Gulistan Mirzaei and Elizabeth Mirzaei’s film shines when it pays attention to the love that Shaista has for his wife, Benazir, as he sings her silly songs that leave her laughing and playful—a beautiful reminder that even in the worst of times, there’s beauty and love in the world. Yet Three Songs for Benazir then jumps ahead four years, showing the results of Shaista’s actions, without allowing the audience to see what caused this massive change. But those moments between Shaista and Benazir as they bring joy to each other make Three Songs for Benazir extremely lovely.
Gorgeously directed by Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean, Audible packs an impressive amount of story into this short. Amaree is the team captain for the football team at the Maryland School for the Deaf, an undefeated team who loses their first game in quite some time in the opening minutes. Throughout Audible, we get an in-depth look at Amaree’s friendships, a potential love interest, and his rocky relationship with his father, who left their family when Amaree was a child. Ogens and McLean show a world where these deaf students thrive, yet hint at an uncertain future once they leave the doors of this school. It’s a bleak way to end, but through Audible, we also get a fascinating look at a world that we might not have seen otherwise.
With the Danish short On My Mind, director Martin Strange-Hansen follows Henrik (Rasmus Hammerich), a man who is clearly grieving and becomes determined to record himself singing “Always on My Mind” at a local bar’s karaoke machine. Strange-Hansen avoids telling us what is behind Henrik’s persistence or sorrow, but On My Mind balances his clear despondency with a light touch, leading to a powerfully emotional conclusion. Strange-Hansen (who won this category in 2002 for This Charming Man) based On My Mind on his own experiences, and his ability to present deep anguish with enough gentle humor to make this not feel overwhelming makes this a great example of how to balance tone efficiently.
By far the most disturbing short in this year’s batch of nominees, and one of the darkest shorts to ever appear in the animated shorts category, Bestia explores the life of a Chilean secret police agent and her dog. Inspired by índrid Olderöck, an agent during the Chilean military dictatorship, the lead character is a porcelain doll, which presents a sense of innocence amongst the atrocities the character commits. While the events of Bestia, directed by Hugo Covarrubias, are jarring and uncomfortable, Bestia is also a perfect example of the directions in which animation can be pushed, and how the medium can help make even the most atrocious stories a little bit easier to swallow.
At times, Please Hold almost feels like an episode of Black Mirror, as we Mateo (Erick Lopez) gets arrested by a drone for an unknown crime, then remains imprisoned by an automated system that only escalates the fear and uncertainty of his situation. K.D. Dávila’s short would almost be funny if it wasn’t so eerily prescient, as he discusses the business of for-profit prisons, the almost Sisyphean task of trying to survive while incarcerated, the weight of trying to reacclimate to society after prison, and how racial profiling can ruin a person’s life. Dávila brings this near-future to life with incredible detail, complete with an infuriating automated system within the cell that could make any prisoner go insane. Please Hold manages to fit a wide range of criticisms about our current prison system in a captivating and well-considered short.
Produced by and starring Riz Ahmed, The Long Goodbye begins by showing Riz and his family in the midst of a normal day in the UK. It doesn’t take long, however, until Aneil Karia’s short shifts into a nightmare fueled by racism and Islamophobia, punctuated by a powerful monologue by Ahmed comprised of lyrics from his 2020 album, “The Long Goodbye.” Karia’s short could’ve ended up feeling like a music video that jolts the viewer awake, akin to Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,” yet manages to never quite make that leap. Instead, Karia’s surprising switch in tones makes The Long Goodbye an unrelenting and brutal look at the racism in the UK, with a tremendous and commanding performance by Ahmed.
The longest of the live-action shorts and easily the most packed, Ala Kachuu shines a light on the still practiced form of forced marriage known as “bride kidnapping.” Alina Turdumamatova plays Sezim, who leaves home to study in the capital of Kyrgyz. As her life starts to come together, she is kidnapped at her job and forced to marry a complete stranger. Sezim seems to be the only one that realizes the horror of this situation, as she tries to escape her new husband. The biggest flaw of Maria Brendle’s short is how much plot is crammed into this film, as intriguing supporting stories are introduced throughout, but there’s no time to give them the attention they deserve. But Sezim’s story and Turdumamatova fantastic performance are enough to make this is enthralling, albeit terrifying film that shines a light on an issue that is shocking to learn is still happening today.
Lusia Harris might be the greatest basketball player you’ve never heard of before. She led her college basketball team to three national titles, became the first female basketball player to score at the Olympics (and she received a silver medal), and she was even the first female officially drafted to the NBA. With The Queen of Basketball, Ben Proudfoot (who was also nominated in this category last year for co-directing A Concerto Is a Conversation) lets Harris tell her story, and it’s a wonderful story to her from Harris’ joyful perspective. While Harris says she doesn’t regret turning the NBA down, she also laments the lack of opportunities that she had after college, considering the WNBA didn’t exist yet. But learning of Harris’ remarkable accomplishments through her exuberant perspective is a delight. Everyone should know Harris’ name and Queen of Basketball does a great job in trying to make this happen.
If there was an Oscar category for Best Performance in a Short Film, Anna Dieduszycka would undoubtedly win for her performance in The Dress. Dieduszycka plays Julka, a woman of short stature who works as a maid at a Polish hotel, and spends her nights chain-smoking and playing video slots, all while frequently putting up with stares and rude comments. When Julka meets a truck driver who asks her out, she begins to think about her sexual desires in a way she hasn’t in quite some time. Dieduszycka gives a heartbreaking performance in The Dress, while Tadeusz Lysiak direction and writing show the beauty of Julka, while also keeping the story grounded by tragic reality. The Dress doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulties of finding love—which are especially hard for Julka—but amongst the darkness, there’s hope, even if it might take some time to find.
Looking at homelessness on the West Coast of the United States, Lead Me Home not only investigates the large-scale needs for countless people without homes, but also dives into the personal stories of individuals who have no place to go. Directors Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk show the dreams and desires of these people, whether it’s to keep their family safe and sound, or to simply have a place of safety, away from the abuses they suffer on the street. Lead Me Home is a painful, but an extremely necessary document of those who are often overlooked, and yet just want the basic amenities that every person deserves.
The only short in the animated category that kids should be allowed to watch, Robin Robin is also one of the best films Aardman Animations has done in years. Following a robin who lives with mice and believes himself to be a mouse, Robin Robin is a charming tale of finding one’s own identity and strengths. The wooly figures bring warmth and comfort to this film, and the sets created for this tale are unbelievably rich and detailed. Robin Robin is easily the cutest short of all the nominees, but Aardman makes sure it’s also one of the finest shorts nominated this year.
From Alberto Mielgo, who has worked on such varied projects as Love, Death & Robots, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Beatles: Rock Band and Gorillaz, The Windshield Wiper is an absolutely stunning series of vignettes exploring love. Every gorgeous frame in Mielgo’s creation is awe-inspiring, from a man waiting for an unknown reason in an empty hospital, to a homeless man talking to a store’s mannequin, confused and bleakly asking this delusion to “come back.” A pair swipes right on each other, oblivious to the fact that they’re right beside each other at the grocery store. A man walks by a girl who turns his head, as we see him thinking about going up to her, then thinking better of the inclination. A couple sits wordlessly together on the beach. When tied together, The Windshield Wiper unites to create a fascinating tale of modern love, both sad and yet, hopeful and full of possibilities. With its scope and arresting style, The Windshield Wiper is the best short in competition this year, and one of the best animated short nominees in years.
Ross Bonaime is the Senior Film Editor at Collider. He is a Virginia-based writer and editor who had written about all forms of entertainment for Paste Magazine, Brightest Young Things, Flickchart, The Free Lance-Star, and more. He has an unhealthy obsession with theme parks and the Criterion Collection and will defend the Lost finale until his dying day. More at RossBonaime.com.
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