Awards Picks | The Red Carpet Blog » Best Documentary Short

Road to the Oscars: Week One in Review

Adam Spunberg — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:11:24 +0000

By Adam Spunberg

Technically, this review covers a span of time greater than a week, but if the Academy can expand its Best Picture category, surely we can do the same with days in a week. In this first “week,” four AwardsPicks writers (Bowen and Freiberg doubling up, excellently if I may say) covered six of the so-called “lesser” categories, although many of these efforts likely required more devotion than the banner ones and are often of higher quality.

I was really struck by the audacity of some of these filmmakers. In Freiberg’s Best Documentary report, we learned of incredibly dangerous feats, ranging from Burma VJ’s raw, revolutionary footage to the plight of environmentalists as they are pursued frighteningly by Japanese poachers (The Cove), along with impoverished children risking everything for a chance at a now-dilapidated American Dream (Which Way Home). Regardless of who wins, these are all highly compelling tales that deserve to be noticed. When the award is announced at the Oscars, there are bound to be people hearing about these injustices for the first time and probably remarking things like, “I had no idea they were killing dolphins in Japan ,” or “What, there’s oppression in Burma?” If awareness is the ultimate goal, getting nominated is a huge accomplishment.

Kit Bowen tackled the truly obscure in her Live Action Short and Animated Short pieces. In Live Action, she introduced us to a wild combination of candidates. Two of the nominees are tragically serious: The Door seems especially intriguing as an avant-garde take on the horrors of Chernobyl, while Kavi – about child slavery in India – just seems sad. Instead of Abracadabra has that charming, winsome feel to it and Miracle Fish appears to have remnants of The Twilight Zone (Bowen informs us). As for The New Tenants, starring well-known actors, I think it has to be your cup of tea. I concur with Bowen on The Door as a likely winner, but let’s see what the buzz (if this category stirs any) indicates as the Oscars near.

In Animated Short, the race should be extremely tight and unpredictable; look for some Oscar pools to be decided here. This is one of my favorite categories, since there’s always bound to be colorful ingenuity. You can watch French Roast, Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (a distorted bedtime story), and The Lady and the Reaper (Scoop meets a farcical The Sea Inside?) in their entirety, while getting a taste of Logorama and the new Wallace and Gromit short. Bowen endorsed The Lady and the Reaper, but I found it too silly despite its clever premise. I’m wondering how Granny O’Grimm even got a nomination, since the storyline was entirely predictable and lacked any original insight. It was by far the worst of the nominees. French Roast, however, was executed brilliantly and was masterful in its amusing twists and turns. I absolutely loved it. Since the dialogue in Logorama was a little too forced (almost unnaturally urban) for my taste, I would see this as a two-horse race between French Roast and the always-wonderful Wallace and Gromit. Keep in mind, though, that I am not an Academy voter, and Kit Bowen knows how they think. Go watch the films and decide for yourself.

Christa Youngpeter provided some stirring analysis of the Documentary Short category. I was pretty touched just from the descriptions alone, especially in the case of Music by Prudence (which Youngpeter endorsed). China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province about the toll of an earthquake and The Last Truck: Closing of a GM plant (self-explanatory) are more standard tragedies, which while enlightening, probably lack the punch of a more unorthodox effort. The Last Campaign of Booth Gardner is another euthanasia story, which may be a little overplayed for Oscar glory. For me, the final two candidates pose the best chance, which are the aforementioned Music by Prudence – about a Zimbabwean girl who sings despite horrendous disabilities – and the incredibly unique Rabbit a la Berlin, which shows rabbits running wild within the Berlin Wall construct.

Paul Popiel was quick to dispense his viewpoints in the Best Foreign Film review, but such a controversial topic can benefit from an opinionated presentation. Happy, enjoyable efforts like Amelie appear to be missing from this year’s pool. The much-discussed The White Ribbon (a dark portrayal of a pre-World War I German village) is the clear favorite, especially with Ajami (violence in Tel Aviv) and Milk of Sorrow (highlights crimes of Peruvian fascism) unlikely to inspire away any votes. A Prophet appears interesting, even if it’s not quite groundbreaking, but it probably lacks the capability to take down The White Ribbon. The Secret in Their Eyes also has a compelling plot, but the personal/political story of a crime revisited – good as it may be – has had neither the following nor attention of The White Ribbon.

Lastly, Nate Freiberg adventured into the Best Animated Film category and laid out the particulars with expert craftsmanship. The increase to five nominees has still left worthy options out in this exploding genre of film (see Freiberg’s list of potential snubs), and Up’s inclusion on the Best Picture list pretty much guarantees a win in the Best Animated Film scrum. That being said, it was nice to see a couple of idiosyncratic nominees (Coraline and The Fantastic Mr. Fox) get acclaimed. The Princess and the Frog, though nominated, is the real loser here, as expectations were much higher than what ultimately resulted. After the success of Enchanted, I fully anticipated a lucrative showing, but viewers were more transfixed by the other nominees this year and of course, Avatar (which is almost a CGI film itself). As Freiberg points out, The Secret of Kells has virtually no chance, but it should benefit greatly from the somewhat-surprising nomination. Tremendous praise must be extended to Pixar, however, for once again leading the pack in the animated genre.

What a superb first week of reviewing, especially when you consider the obscurity of some of these films. Week 2 will focus more on the technical side of things, but it should feature some movies more recognizable to the everyday audience. Stay tuned for next week’s recap, and make sure to follow along each day.

Road to the Oscars: Documentary Short

Christa Youngpeter — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:01:29 +0000

By Christa Youngpeter

Documentaries are often forgotten in awards chatter, especially in this Avatar blockbusting day and age and flashbulb-laden entertainment industry. However, even short subject documentaries can offer seriously powerful, ground zero accounts of forgotten disasters and historical events on every level from personal to domestic to global.

For example, who can recount the devastation in China’s Sichuan province in 2008 when poorly constructed schools killed countless children? It may have been a 24 hour blip on CNN, but Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill’s China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of the Sichuan Province takes viewers face to face with the toll an earthquake can have on a rural town and unfamiliar culture where families are pressured to follow a strict one-child policy. With the recent devastation in Haiti, this candidate could either win big or be pushed aside by more recent events. You can see the trailer here.

Nominee The Last Campaign of Governer Booth Gardner is not the first time around the Oscar block for director Daniel Junge who was nominated last year for was nominated last year for his feature-length They Killed Sister Dorothy. Following Washington state’s Parkingson’s-plagued former governor and his battle for legally assisted suicide could certainly prove a worthy domestic candidate of the Oscar this year with it’s taboo subject and political human rights struggle. To see more Booth Gardner (the history, not the film), you can click here.

Another domestic nominee, The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, offers a plight of a different nature- joblessness in the worst economic climate in decades. Filmed in a bare-bones style, but rife with heart-breaking emotion, Last Truck is a true testament to the hardest working suffering the most as giant corporations fall. America’s heartland is rarely depicted in all of its raw earnest, so Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s documentary could easily draw votes for its blue collar focus in a time where attention is focused seemingly everywhere but the common American. You can see the trailer here.

Music by Prudence, a 30 minute journey through a young, disabled woman’s impossible struggle from birth, is the kind of uplifting message that, let’s be honest, we all need right now. Prudence Mabhena was born in Zimbabwe with unimaginable disability- no legs, twisted arms, but gifted with a hauntingly beautiful voice. Surviving infanticide only to live as an outcast, Prudence winds up excelling thanks to a school for disabled youth. By Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett. You can visit the film’s official site to see more.

And then… there were rabbits. And the Berlin Wall. As odd as the premise may sound, Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra’s concept could very well lead to an Oscar win for this dark horse (rabbit?) nominee. Juxtaposed with black and white footage of Communist-era barbed wire, machine gun fire and brick and mortar construction, are families of blissfully ignorant rabbits running free. Certainly original, and with the 20^th anniversary of the Wall’s demise this past year, don’t count this one out. You can visit the official site for Rabbit a la Berlin for more information.

So in a field on international and local disasters, struggles and Communist oppression, who stands the best chance of bringing home the statue and with it, priceless visibility for funding future projects? Music By Prudence seems to have it all- life-long struggle in a developing nation, hidden talent that overcomes said struggle and ultimately a sincere, uplifting that ending that’s feel-good without being too saccharine-sweet. While the other nominees are strong despite their succinct time frames, Prudence may very well outshine the rest.

Road to the Oscars series:

Podcasts – Kit Bowen, Nate Freiberg, Adam Spunberg, and Phil Wallace

February 4: Live Action Short – Kit Bowen

February 5: Animated Short – Kit Bowen

February 8: Documentary Short Subject – Christa Youngpeter

February 9: Documentary Feature – Nate Freiberg

February 10: Foreign Language Film – Paul Popiel

February 12: Animated Film – Nate Freiberg

February 15: Sound Mixing – Jeremy Martin

February 16: Sound Editing – Jeremy Martin

February 17: Original Song – Adam Spunberg and Savanna New

February 18: Visual Effects – Mallory Pickard