While everyone's making their Oscar predictions, I'll make one of the few that's actually guaranteed. I can guarantee that I'll have watched all of this year's nominees ... if not for the Documentary Feature category.
You see, most other critics have gravitated towards No Other Land, a film that is barely available theatrically due to its heavy subject matter. I could make an Amazon UK account to rent it, since it's available there, but I'd rather not. Porcelain War, meanwhile, was available theatrically near me, but I got lazy. The rest I'm not sure on.
Anyway, I didn't skip out on this year's theatrical package of nominated Documentary Shorts. Here they are:
Instruments of a Beating Heart (Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki): At the end of her school year, first grader Ayame earns a spot in the ensemble of Bethoven's Ode to Joy in their school's upcoming entrance ceremony. As the cymbal, Ayame is expected to be a piece of her class's unified heart. She nearly falls apart from stress during the rehearsal process. As a part of the larger documentary, The Making of a Japanese, this short also gives you an interesting look into Japanese school life, particularly when it's affected by that pandemic.
I've seen quite a few reviews comparing this to Whiplash, but as hard as Ayame's music teacher is, he's thankfully nowhere near as brutal as Terence Fletcher. His reprimanding of her for her lack of practice is harsh, but that's balanced by eventual kindness from him. On a lighter note, it's quite cutesy watching her classmates support each other and eventually her. Her homeroom teacher's encouragement is especially heartwarming. Her eventual triumph is quite a crowd-pleaser, especially given the mostly heavy shorts to follow.
Incident (Director: Bill Morrison): The 2018 police shooting of Harith "Snoop" Augustus, as shown on multiple bodycam and surveillance videos. It plays the actual incident in deafening silence, three times in fact, before it abruptly switches to sound for the aftermath. Although the officers involved feared for their lives, you'll be doubting their story by the second playthrough. Their cold, almost callous, justifications will leave you indignant as an angry crowd gathers around them (this was in the midst of a trial for another police shooting!). That barely changes when the third, and closest playthrough, happens in the closing moments. It might want to leave things ambiguous, but that playthrough lays bare the recklessness of that incident. I think I said enough.
I am Ready, Warden (Director: Smriti Mundhra): The last days of John Henry Ramirez, who was executed in 2022 for the 2004 murder of convenience-store worker Pablo Castro. The short chronicles his life before and after the murder, as well as a few people in his life. The titular statement, in case you're interested, are his last words.
It doesn't try to sugarcoat Ramirez's crime, as he contritely admits that he was messed up before it happened. His spiritual advisor, Jan Trujilo, and the district attorney, Mark Gonzalez, acknowledge it too as they tried to commute his sentence to life. You'll sympathize with Ramirez as much as Castro's son, Aaron, who understandably refuses to forgive him until the emotionally devastating climax. The actual sentence doesn't leave Aaron with any satisfaction; in fact, he mourns Ramirez as much as his dad. As much as Ramirez took away all that his dad could have been, the crime took away all that Ramirez could have been. That's sure to complicate any iron-clad support for the death penalty.
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Director: Molly O'Brien): Molly's aunt, Orin O'Brien, was the first woman to play in the New York Philharmonic, joining in 1966 as a double bassist under the direction of Leonard Bernstein himself. She retired in 2021, so Molly, her last living relative, made this short. All of this is set to an exquisite soundtrack by Laura Karpman.
It's another portrait of a fascinating life. She tells us she never sought the spotlight, which is why she took to the double bass, but it shines brightly all the same. We learn of her childhood as the daughter of movie stars George O'Brien and Marguerite Churchill, her "trailblazing" first years at the Philharmonic and her music classes in the present day. Her folksy humility is most evident with her warm relationships with her students and Molly. When they organize her retirement party, Orin wishes she brought more pumpkin bread.
Perhaps her most profound anecdote is of her father, desperate for work, accepting the villain role in Cheyenne Autumn. It's a bit more humorous when she rebukes some casually sexist write-ups from her day (They helped her with her luggage? No, they didn't.). It's all interesting stuff, and by the end, you'll be left wanting to learn more.
Death by Numbers (Director: Kim A. Snyder): Sam Fuentes, a survivor of the Parkland School shooting, prepares to face her attacker at his sentencing. Her opening narration runs down the statistics related to the attack, including her own. She vows to remember them along with her attacker (whose face is scribbled out until the end).
Her narration, taken from her journal entries, paints a vivid picture of her recovery. Her physical and mental trauma are extensive, especially highlighted when we see her wounded face that day. It's quite profound when she highlights of her classmates, some of whom took the stand, while a few others took their lives. Equally profound is the focus on her teacher, Ivy Schamis, who's introduced visiting another of her student's memorial garden. Her own testimony is quite devastating.
As much as Sam hates her attacker, she acknowledges that the death penalty wouldn't work either. The financial resources, she says, are better spent elsewhere. That doesn't stop her from eviscerating his delusions of grandeur during her victim impact statement. It's narratively cathartic, but we're still left hoping that it helped her recovery even if somewhat. Overall, you won't forget Sam Fuentes and her story when it's all said and done.
That's it for this year's bunch of nominated shorts. Let's see how they do on Sunday.
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