Animation is so much more interesting and beautiful on a big movie screen, so I couldn't miss the Oscar Nominated Short Animated features that played this past week at the Galaxy Theater in Cary, NC.
If you missed the animated shorts, you can watch most of these on-line for free. So, I'm saving you some money. Hey, you're welcome!
Here are some links I found to all five nominated shorts:
"La Maison en Petits Cubes" -- This one won the Oscar this year for best animated short. Despite its title, it's not from France -- it's from Japan, but it doesn't look anything like most Japanese anime. It has a dreamlike quality, and although it's somewhat slow, it builds to an emotional ending. You could also call it a cautionary tale of global warming run amok. I found it here: http://fr.truveo.com/La-Maison-en-Petits-Cubes/id/3950785702
"Oktapodi" -- A short French CGI film, fun in a "Saturday morning cartoon" kind of way. Wonderfully full of day-glow colors in a crazy dash through a coastal Greek town. I found a hi-res version of the video here or a quicker-loading lower-res version at YouTube here.
"Presto" -- If you saw the movie "Wall-E" in theaters last year, then you've seen this one already. It was the animated short that played before "Wall-E". It's still one of my favorites though, as a disagreement between a magician and his rabbit gets out of control. You can watch the video here: http://www.itsartmag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1487
"Lavatory - Lovestory" -- I really liked this one from Russia. Simple line drawings mostly in black and white, but very wonderful. The title says it all. I found it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajLrFugsdMw&feature=related. You may not find it there anymore, due to copyright issues, but search for it via Google.
"This Way Up" -- A rather macabre story from England. It's CGI, but it has a unique look to it. It's about two undertakers, and I think I laughed out loud more during this one than any except "Hot Dog". You can watch it here (at least until someone removes it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrGvv-5_G1Y
Besides the 5 nominated films above, there were another 5 "highly commended" films, which were "short-listed" by the Oscar nomination committee. Included in these five were these three interesting films:
"Varmints" -- this was my favorite of these last five (and maybe my favorite of all) and the longest film by far at 24 minutes. Based on the book by the same name, it's an allegory/science-fiction mashup, sort of like a silent version of "Brazil". An idyllic rural existence is threatened by "varmints". I couldn't find the entire film, but the UK studio that produced it has a "trailer" here: http://www.studioaka.co.uk/index.php?movie=8e5a02a721eb508dd1f72fd86d55bb1c.m4v
"Skhizein" -- Another interesting allegory/science-fiction film, this time from France, about a guy who comes close to being hit by a meteorite. As a result, he is now 91 centimeters to the left of all the other items in the real world. At first, it's quite funny, with some interesting sight gags, but it becomes more Kafka-esque and desperate as time goes by. I couldn't find the entire 13-minute film, but I found this short clip: http://www.awntv.com/playlist/fff-vol13/skhizein-clip/
"Hot Dog" -- Have you ever seen a Bill Plympton cartoon? He has a unique style, where shapes (usually people's faces) morph into other shapes. In this short (surprisingly morph-free!), a dog wishes he could become a fire-fighter, and hilarity ensues. I could only find this 60-second "trailer" on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWw-9L87fSk
