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Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘2025 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action' Review: Optimism and Outrage Battle It Out in Solid Shorts Crop
Over the past two decades, the Academy Awards have been in a constant state of flux: There are now 10 best picture nominees instead of five, the membership has grown (and diversified) by more than 50% in that time, streaming releases now routinely vie for the top prize. Amid all that change, one constant remains: For 20 years, ShortsTV has been working with the short film nominees to get their work seen around the country. The theatrical audience for those releases grows each year, to the point that the '2025 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action' package is on track to outgross best picture nominee 'Nickel Boys' at the box office. First up in an all-around strong (and impressively international) selection is the Croatian short that won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year, 'The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent.' Set aboard a train traveling through Bosnia in 1993, director Nebojša Slijepčević's fact-based thriller puts us in the position of the bewildered passengers, confused and intimidated when the train stops and heavily armed men come aboard to separate Muslim travelers. Drawing from eyewitness testimonies, Slijepčević focuses on an average guy named Dragan (Goran Bogdan), who recognizes that what's happening is wrong. Given the film's title, we're hoping to see him act heroically, though the gun-wielding officer (French actor Alexis Manenti) is so threatening, Dragan doesn't dare. And so we're left to share in the shame of what happens. The film is dedicated to Tomo Buzov, a veteran who paid dearly for challenging the soldiers — and a role model in times when resistance becomes a moral obligation. More from Variety Oscar-Nominated Short 'A Lien' Joins With ACLU on Impact Campaign for Immigrant Rights Oscar Nominees Guneet Monga Kapoor, Adam J. Graves on 'Anuja': 'The Honesty Travels Through' Kristian Novak's Novel 'Dark Mother Earth' Sets Film Adaptation From Oscar-Nominated 'The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent' Director (EXCLUSIVE) In recent years, the Academy has used the shorts categories to amplify all kinds of political messages. That's one way for voters to show their values, but also a strange hijacking of an award that ought to recognize the most talented up-and-coming directors. This year, there's real talent behind the cause-based noms, which can be seen in Adam J. Graves' 'Anuja,' named for its 9-year-old protagonist (first-time performer Sajda Pathan), illegally employed in a shady Indian garment factory. The plot is slender and shameless, as the streetwise Anuja navigates a realm of Dickensian adults — some looking to exploit her, others determined to steer Anuja to a better future. The movie unravels just as it nears Anuja's climactic decision, but it's the backstory that matters most here anyway: Working with the Salaam Baalak Trust, Graves cast a girl who'd been rescued from a similar fate to play Anuja, using the project to inspire kids in similar circumstances. As it happens, the only nominee chosen solely on the strength of its filmmaking (as opposed to the worthiness of its activist cause) is Dutch writer-director Victoria Warmerdam's ultra-clever 22-minute 'I'm Not a Robot.' In a stylish modern office building, Lara (Ellen Parren) sits at her computer listening to a cover of 'Creep,' a song whose lyrics take on new relevance as the film unfolds. Faced with one of those annoying CAPTCHA prompts on her screen, Lara clicks as directed, but keeps failing the test. We've all been there, wasting time on mind-numbing tests meant to separate humans from bots, but Warmerdam introduces a twist: What if Lara really were a bot, and this was how she realized it? It's a novel approach to the AI conversation and one that puts audiences in the shoes of a possible 'replicant' as self-doubts plunge her into an existential tailspin. Unexpected, original and eminently expandable, 'Robot' feels like the prototype for a terrific feature about an all-new category of gaslighting. Exposing a cruel strategy that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses to catch non-citizens, sibling filmmakers David and Sam Cutler-Kreutz's 'A Lien' is an effective example of a fairly common format used in social-justice cinema. Basically, the idea is to follow a bureaucratic nightmare in practically real-time, criticizing the process simply by revealing how cumbersome and impersonal it all seems. In what plays like a 15-minute panic attack, the brothers observe a husband and wife (William Martinez and Victoria Ratermanis) rushing to make a mandatory immigration interview, dragging their adorable young daughter through the ringer. The film doesn't care about the rules he's broken, focusing instead on the ones he's now trying to follow in order to remain in the country — the irony being, ICE officers are waiting to arrest him at the appointment. The tight widescreen framing and shaky handheld shooting style amplify the stress of a situation that's all the more potent for not trying to pin a happy ending on such an upsetting policy. By contrast, Cindy Lee's urgent 28-minute 'The Last Ranger' takes us into the proverbial heart of darkness — an African wildlife preserve where poachers deprive rhinos of their horns — and somehow manages to leave us feeling optimistic about a seemingly impossible fight. Young Litha (Liyabona Mroqoza) loves the endangered local animals and looks up to Khusi (Avumile Qongqo), a woman who's dedicated her life to protecting them. One day, this park ranger picks up Litha and brings her along to work, intending to show the girl a live rhinoceros. Instead, they wind up witnessing the very kind of attack Khusi's sworn to prevent. It's easy to imagine the audience-friendly version of this story, but Lee admires the real-life sacrifice of such heroes too much to sanitize it, including actual footage of a rhino left for dead … and an uplifting reunion with that same animal over the end credits. Best of Variety The Best Albums of the Decade
Boston Globe
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘A Complete Unknown,' ‘Nosferatu,' and more 2025 Oscar nominees with New England ties
'Anuja' Still from 'Anuja,' a nominee for the 2025 Academy Award for best short film, live action. ShortsTV Nominated for 'The Apprentice' Advertisement From left: Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in 'The Apprentice.' Briarcliff Entertainment Boston native ( 'A Complete Unknown' From left: Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in "A Complete Unknown." Searchlight Pictures Up for eight Oscars this weekend, including best picture, the Bob Dylan biopic 'Inside Out 2' A still from "Inside Out 2." © 2023 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved. Pixar's hit sequel 'Nickel Boys' From left: Ethan Herisse stars as Elwood and Brandon Wilson as Turner in director RaMell Ross's "Nickel Boys." Orion Pictures Nominated in two categories, including best picture, Advertisement 'Nosferatu' Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in director Robert Eggers's "Nosferatu." Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC 'The Six Triple Eight' From left: Susan Sarandon as Eleanor Roosevelt and Sam Waterson as President Roosevelt in "The Six Triple Eight." Bob Mahoney / Perry Well Films 2 / Courtesy of Netflix/BOB MAHONEY/PERRY WELL FILMS 2/COURTESY NETFLIX 'The Six Triple Eight' from director and writer Tyler Perry is nominated in only one category, best original song, but the war drama has a pair of ties to New England. 'Law & Order' legend and Cambridge native Sam Waterston plays President Franklin Roosevelt in the movie, while Harvard alum and former Hasty Pudding Theatricals member Dean Norris plays General Halt. Additional nominees with (small) New England ties John Lithgow stars as Cardinal Tremblay in director Edward Berger's "Conclave." Philippe Antonello/Focus Features Oscar nominee Advertisement Matt Juul can be reached at
Boston Globe
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Excellence defines this year's Oscar-nominated documentary shorts
'Instruments of a Beating Heart' The New York Times Op-Docs presents this Japanese-language documentary about first-graders readying for a performance of Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy.' Though they are only performing for their graduation ceremony, the musicians are put through their paces as if they were playing Carnegie Hall. Their conductor/music teacher is strict but fair; he expects every member of his orchestra to practice every day. In the shortest of the five nominees, director Ema Ryan Yamazaki follows Ayame, a student who auditions for the drum part but ends up playing the cymbal. Her struggles to master her part are moving and sweet. This is definitely the crowd-pleaser in the bunch, but I think it will be overshadowed by another music-based entry. In Japanese with subtitles (★★★) Advertisement A still from "I Am Ready, Warden." ShortsTV 'I Am Ready, Warden' Smriti Mundhra's documentary was an entry in the During his three stays of execution, Ramirez was on death row 14 years, and in solitary for 23 hours a day. The film opens after every other legal option has been exhausted, leading us to the day of Ramirez's execution. The title references the last words spoken by Ramirez before he was executed by the state. We hear from Ramirez through interviews and the footage taken of his last days. We also see Texas district attorney Mark Gonzalez attempting to retract his office's original death-penalty sentence on moral grounds. Ramirez's teenage son, Izzy, is also featured in a scene where he takes his father's last phone call. Advertisement Where 'I Am Ready, Warden' shines is in the moments it spends with Aaron Castro. It's hard for him — and by extension, the viewer — to take Ramirez's repentance with anything other than a huge grain of salt. After all, Ramirez fled to Mexico, started a new life, and was almost never captured. Castro is confused by his swiftly changing emotions, and his reaction to Ramirez's execution is the most powerful scene in the film. It's a haunting acknowledgment that closure was never fully achievable. (★★★½) A still from "Death by Numbers." ShortsTV 'Death by Numbers' 'I smile in the face of hate,' says Samantha Fuentes, the subject of the second death-penalty-based short. 'That is my revenge.' Fuentes is a survivor of the Parkland school shooting. Director Kim A. Snyder follows her as she readies to attend the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz. Using an AR-15, Cruz 'Death by Numbers' alternates between Fuentes talking onscreen and reading her diary entries on the soundtrack. These recitations are especially profound, as they give us insight into how she is coping with the situation. As if she is scratching him out of her diary, Cruz's face is covered with an X whenever he appears onscreen. The X is removed at a crucial moment near the end. Though there is some uplift here, the film still makes you angry that so little has been done regarding gun control. (★★★½) Advertisement A still from "Incident." ShortsTV 'Incident' This horrifying and infuriating documentary by Bill Morrison ('Dawson City: Frozen Time') was the hardest nominee to watch. For me, it was also the most important. In the first two minutes of the film, we silently witness the shooting death of Harith Augustus by Chicago police officers. Augustus, a beloved South Side barber, was carrying a licensed gun at the time. Within seconds, he was gunned down. When this incident occurred on July 14, 2018, tensions between police and civilians were high due to the upcoming trial involving the officer who shot Laquan McDonald. ( Morrison lets you decide whether Augustus's death was 'justified.' Using surveillance footage from a nearby camera and police bodycam footage, 'Incident' splits the screen into multiple segments as we watch these perspectives unfold. Editor Morrison does a superb job synchronizing all the footage obtained by producer Jamie Kalven through a Throughout the entire film, the brutalized body of Augustus appears onscreen, forcing you to observe it as chaos and confusion mount in each quadrant of footage. If the Academy is willing to go for the toughest sit, this will win. But I believe their votes will skew toward a feel-good story. (★★★★) 'The Only Girl in the Orchestra' With Netflix behind it, and Errol Morris producing, this is my pick for the Oscar. It's a very entertaining look at Orin O'Brien, the first woman to earn a permanent seat in the New York Philharmonic. Conductor Leonard Bernstein hired her to play the double bass in 1966; she remained there for 55 years. Advertisement Her niece, Molly O'Brien, is the film's director, and the filmmaker's famous auntie grumbles every time she tries to make her out to be 'more important than I am.' As a double-bass musician, O'Brien says she loved the joy of being a supporting player, not the main attraction. Playing with the rest of the orchestra is what she loved most. 'The Only Girl in the Orchestra' has fun looking at some of the sexist things written about O'Brien when she started. One I loved hearing O'Brien talk about her instrument and seeing her with her current students. This short is quite enjoyable and informative, which is why I think the Academy will go for it. (★★★½) Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Boston Globe
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- 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.
