Oscar animation shorts range from drama to satire
The nominees in the Animated category range from the Holocaust dramas “Butterfly,” about a Jewish swimmer from France, and “The Girl Who Cried Pearls,” to the lighthearted “Retirement Plan,” about big dreams that will never come true. None of them is transformative, but four of the five are well worth your time. Here are my takes on each:
Butterfly/Papillon (15m, French): Director Florence Miailhe co-wrote with Marie Desplechin a lovely, interrutive watercolor depicting the life of Alfred Nakache (voiced by Faycal Safi), the Jewish swimmer who competed in the 1936 Olympics for France, much to the disdain of one Adolf Hitler. Depicted are all the racist insults and indignities aimed at Nakache, as well as the sorrow of having lost his wife and young daughter to the Holocaust. But he had his supporters, who transform into dolphins when he needs their love and support most. Grade: B
Forevergreen (13m, USA): Veteran Disney animators Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears deliver the most kid-friendly entry with their parable about a towering fir tree parenting an orphaned baby bear, whose hunger for junk food leads to a calamity that threatens their friendship as well as the tree’s very life. Grade: B
The Girl Who Cried Pearls (17m, Canada): Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski direct a script they co-wrote with Isaelle Mandalian about an orphaned young boy who takes shelter inside a dilapidated shed with a peephole that enables him to watch the girl in the next room frequently cry, not tears, but pearls. Valuable ones at that, and ones a greedy pawnshop owner with ties to the Nazis seeks to amass into riches. The sentiment is certainly there with this stop-motion beauty, but the story fails to fully engage. Grade: B-
Retirement Plan (7m, Ireland): Domhnall Gleeson narrates director John Kelly’s quick and effective satire (written beside Tara Lawhall) that boomers like me can take fully to heart. It features a pen-and-ink depiction of a young man imagining himself in his 70s, engaged in all sorts of retirement activities we assume he’ll almost assuredly never act on. Cute, but not Oscar-worthy. Grade: B
The Three Sisters (14m, Cyprus): Three-time nominee Konstantin Bronzit, using the pseudonym of Timur Kognov, is sure to ruffle some feminist feathers with his slightly sexist story of three sisters living happily on a deserted island, until circumstances demand that they rent out one of their homes to a gross, sweaty sailor with no couth. At first, the ladies are repulsed, but one by one, they throw themselves at the slob, dressing to impress and waiting on him hand and foot. It’s supposed to be funny, but I found what Bronzit (“We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” and “Lavatory Lovestory”) conceived to be borderline offensive. But judge for yourself. Grade: C
Note: The shorts are available Feb. 20 in select theaters, courtesy of Roadside Attractions, and on Shorts TV.
