Chris J
Started this morning off by watching the Oscar Nominated Shorts - Live Action films.
Every year the shorts are an interesting grab bag. Some years they're far more entertaining than others. As with regular films, I go into these as blind as I can.
I knew a little bit about one of them just based purely on a news story. I'm not going to go into details on it because I don't want to sway the experience of the films for anyone else.
Anyone, in order from best to least favorite, here are my Live Action shorts lsit.
1. Mother
2. Fauve
3. Marguerite
4. Detainment
5. Skin
Oddly enough, this is the order they were shown in! (Detainment probably would've been number one had it not been for the outside information I have about it)
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
04/11/19
Full Review
Audience Member
These were some seriously messed up short films... four of the five films involved bad things happening to kids and watching them all in a row is almost soul crushing. One film is about a mother who gets a call from her very young son who has apparently been abandoned by his father in an unfamiliar terrain, a second film is about two young boys who get into mortal peril in an abandoned construction site, a third film is about a true story of two young boys who are being interrogated by police for murdering a third boy, and the fourth film is about a boy with a neo-nazi father.... none of these films end well for the kids... The fifth film, and the only one that doesn't involve kids involved an old woman, her much younger caretaker and their relationship takes some uncomfortable turns... All i can say here is at least they weren't boring.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
Full Review
Audience Member
So we went into this movie uninformed about the bludgeoning to unfold. No pre-reviews, which was dumb of us. Sitting through 4 of the 5 shorts where kids die, get tortured, commit murder was just painful. You go in expecting some degree of heaviness, but not this. Is this the new recipe for getting a film nominated ? I passed up films that were per reviews: boring, cliche, poorly constructed to instead pick this. Honestly beating my head into a wall or being forced to watch Threes Company reruns for 24 hours straight would have been more enjoyable than this. Dont get me wrong, none of these are bad films per se. Detainment in particular has some amazing acting. The only reason I didnt walk about was some mistaken belief after each one ended that it has to get better. Surely there cant be another story of a kid in peril can there ? Yep. When the lights went up the only thing one could see on the audiences faces was a look of abject exhaustion and some relief that the onslaught was finally over
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Weï¿ 1/2(TM)ve been seeing the live Oscar nominated shorts for at least the last 5 years, and this batch is by far the most vile and obscene of any year.  If your idea of entertainment is watching children being abandoned (short 1), asphyxiated (short 2), tortured to death (short 4) or becoming parricidal racists (short 5), then by all means, knock yourself out.  If you want to keep your dinner down, see something else.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
We always look forward to these 5 films, as they usually include a few well done or provocative or clever films. Not this year. My complaint is not with the violence, but none of the films rises to the professional level expected from the best of that country's short films. Most people seemed stunned while leaving the Los Angeles theatre. Even the critics didn't give it a very good review.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/16/23
Full Review
barbara d
Pretty grim bunch here. Hard to pick a favorite. Least favorite would be "detainment" altho the young actors were terrific.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
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