It's about time I get to the nominated shorts. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is currently the frontrunner for the Live Action short category, but since it's always better to be safe than sorry, I streamed the rest last night. Let's see what I thought of them.
Invincible (From Canada. Dir: Vincent Rene-Lortie): It was hard looking for this short considering that an Amazon animated series, a Mark Wahlberg movie from 2006 and several other works also share its title. I eventually found it on the director's Vimeo account and pressed play.
In it, Rene-Lortie chronicles his friend, Marc-Antoine Bernier (Léokim Beaumier-Lépine), who died at the age of 14 when he crashed a stolen car into a river. This is depicted in medias res in the short's prologue. A few days earlier, Marc returns to juvie after a weekend stay with his family. He hates it there, though he has friends and a counselor, Luc (Ralph Prosper), who tries to set him straight. He eventually seizes upon an opportunity to escape.
The film doesn't specify what Marc did to get sent to juvie. I don't think it really matters, though. It proves Luc right as it shows Marc playing with his sister, Justine (Elia St-Pierre) in the opening, gently letting a bee out his window, and helping another inmate at gardening. Not even him setting off the sprinklers with a match is enough to get the audience to dislike him. Luc is a reasonable authority figure who only puts his foot down as a last resort. The stunning score by Simon P. Castonguay and cinematography by Alexandre Nour-Desjardins accentuates Marc's tragic story. It seems like the most likely winner if the Academy doesn't go with Henry Sugar.
Knight of Fortune (From Denmark. Dir: Lasse Lyskjær Noer): Who knew that a short about death would be one of the lighter films in this year's lineup? In it, Karl (Leif Andree), a widower, visits his late wife at the morgue. He meets a fellow widower, Torben (Jens Jørn Spottag), who asks him for emotional support to visit his own late wife. They both bond when they discover their wives were fans of the band Rocazino's title song. Things take a turn once Karl learns more about his new friend.
How can a short about death be funny? Well, we have Karl fumbling to replace a failing light tube, how he meets Torben and the morticians' constant reminders of the state of corpses. Its first hint of twist is easy to pick-up once Karl meets Torben's "fellow mourners." It's still pretty nice to see Karl and Torben bond over their wives, paying their last respects and helping the others do the same. Its twist is sure to remind one of, of all films, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, even if superficially. You might understand why once you press play on Youtube via The New Yorker. Get ready, though, for it gets pretty dark in the next two shorts.
Red, White, And Blue (From the U.S. Dir: Nazrin Choudhury): I had to rent this from its official site for just $1.99. In it, Rachel (Brittany Snow) is a waitress dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. She has to cross state lines from Arkansas to Illinois to get an abortion. She takes her ten-year-old daughter, Maddy (Juliet Donenfeld), seemingly for emotional support. It's only once she gets to the clinic that the story is tossed on its head.
I'd be giving away the twist if I worded that last sentence poorly. It's a twist that will send you through denial, rage and horror once it hits. Before hand, we get a decent slice-of-life story as Rachel struggles living paycheck to paycheck. Even her son, Jake (Redding Munsell), losing his tooth and expecting the tooth fairy is cause for financial concern. An understanding customer, Margo (Mo Collins), gives her a humongous tip to help her out. Her and Maddy's "girl's trip" is pretty lighthearted with a matching pop song. How bad can it be? More importantly, how can anyone with a conscience not be horrified by the climax?
The After (From England. Dir: Misan Harriman): This Netflix short was co-produced by David Oyelowo, who also stars as Dayo, a happy business and family man. At least, that's what he'd want to be. He delays an important meeting for his daughter, Laura's (Amelie Dokubo) dance recital, only for a knife-wielding maniac to target his family. A year later, Dayo takes up work as a ride-share driver, constantly listening to his passengers' chatter. His bottled-up grief bubbles over when he drives a family from the airport.
Its prologue is tense as you wait for whatever shatters Dayo's happy life. I knew from the summary that something happened, but I wasn't really prepared for what it was. After that, we go through Dayo's new daily life driving all sorts of passengers. Among the most sympathetic are two nameless women frantically trying to get an ambulance for a loved-one (who doesn't make it).
The aforementioned family consists of parents Stewart and Emily (Sule Rimi and Izuka Hoyle) and daughter Rebecca (Ellen Francis). Rebecca is the empathetically smartest of Dayo's passengers as she recognizes Dayo's distress. She hugs him at the end while her parents bicker and argue over who lost their keys. Their obliviousness to Dayo's distress, and not only that, assuming he grabbed her, make them quite unlikable. He gets a moment to let out his agony, carries on with his work and ... the end. Anyone looking for a concise ending will be disappointed. But it's still a compelling short, overall.
I'll get to the Documentary shorts next week, though that will require making a Paramount Plus account for The ABCs of Book Banning (I'll go with a trial). I'll watch the animated short film package in theatres once it shows up. Look forward to those reviews. Next up is a feature.
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