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Boston Globe

From ICE raids to CAPTCHA fails, this year's Oscar nominees for best live-action short tackle topical issues that resonate in tense times

'I'm Not a Robot' At first glance, Victoria Warmerdam's short appears to be the sole entry that doesn't sync up with a current issue. By the closing credits, however, you could make an argument that the film takes a swipe at the current glut of robot-based/A.I.- powered human companion stories. When music producer Lara (Ellen Parren) keeps failing those CAPTCHA tests designed to verify whether a site is interacting with a robot, she becomes suspicious of her own humanity. After getting nowhere with CAPTCHA tech support, she stumbles upon an 'Are you a robot?' questionnaire site that makes her even more confused and uncertain. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up And when Lara's boyfriend Daniel (Henry van Loon) shows up at her job acting weird, she fears the worst. Advertisement This is the kind of short that serves as a director's calling card: It's flashy and full of directorial tricks, and it has a provocative subject. Warmerdam definitely has talent, and Parren sells Lara's existential crisis, though there isn't much suspense or drama here. In Dutch with subtitles. (★★½) Sajda Pathan and Ananya Shanbhag in "Anuja." ShortsTV 'Anuja' When she's not at home reading marriage-proposal ads to her 14-year-old sister, Payak (Ananya Shanbhag), 9-year-old Anuja (Sajda Pathan) works with her at a New Delhi factory. Though director Adam J. Graves's film touches on the issue of child labor, the main thrust of this short is the relationship between the two sisters. Anuja is something of a math whiz, and Payak encourages her to take an entrance exam for a boarding school that will serve her better than a steady paycheck in a dead-end job. Payak hatches a clever plan to raise the money for the test, and it's fun to watch her and Anuja execute it. But Anuja is torn about her future. Should she stay or go? I enjoyed the interplay between Shanbhag and Pathan, but this one may be too light for Academy voters; the films that win usually require more misery. In Hindi with subtitles (★★★) Advertisement Avumile Qongqo and Liyabona Mroqoza in "The Last Ranger." ShortsTV 'The Last Ranger' Here's another film — Khuselwa catches some poachers in the act, and deadly gunfire ensues. As the mayhem erupts, we see the savagery of horn removal framed through Litha's eyes. So far, so good, but Lee lays the melodrama on way too thick. Did we really need the surprise twist here? The message of animal protection is certainly important, but its power is undermined by heavy-handedness. In Xhosa with subtitles (★★½) A scene from "The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent." ShortsTV 'The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent' By comparison, this look at a real-life incident that happened in 1993 during the Bosnian War presents itself in a lean, matter-of-fact way. A commuter train makes an unscheduled stop so that soldiers can board it. The unidentified military men demand to see IDs. One man inside the train booth where we spend most of the film doesn't have any papers. A father in the same booth tries reassuring the undocumented man, but he fears speaking up will harm his family. Advertisement Director Nebojsa Slijepcevic doesn't need to show any atrocities to generate palpable suspense. Who is the person in the title, and will he stand up for what's right? After he speaks up, he is taken off the train instead of the intended party. An end credit dedicates the film to him, so we eventually learn what happened. Like several of the films in the live-action and documentary categories, 'The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent' feels eerily prescient. It has the best shot at winning if I'm wrong about my pick below. In Croatian with subtitles (★★★½) 'A Lien' Directors Sam and David Cutler-Kreutz do an excellent job generating unbearable suspense with this terrifying film about immigrants dealing with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Like 'The Man Who Could Not Be Silent,' this short is about being punished for not having the right papers. Except this time, the victim is en route to obtaining the correct documents through what he believes is the proper channel. A hopeful husband named Oscar Gomez (William Martinez) arrives for his green card interview with his American wife (Victoria Ratermanis) and their young American-born daughter. What they don't know is that the supposed interview is actually a setup organized by ICE to imprison people who are following the rules they've been given to achieve citizenship. (An end-credit screen tells us this is a real strategy of ICE.) Shot in an anxiety-inducing series of cuts, camera angles, and disembodied voices, the directors hammer home that often-heard phrase 'the cruelty is the point.' I found myself seething at the screen as the credits rolled, and I'm sure enough Academy voters will draw a parallel between 'A Lien' and current events to give this film the Oscar. (★★★★) Advertisement Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.