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| Fauve |
Wowee, the short film branch of the Academy is a sadistic
bunch. I love the five films they nominated for Best Animated Short, but the
programme for Best Live Action Short is simply intolerable. With the exception
of one contender, the nominees are relentlessly bleak, exhausting, and, at
times, excruciating films. Oscar completists must tread lightly in this
scenario, for it might better to fill out the ballot than endure the miserable
hell of a screening. At the very least, find out the screening order of the
films and plan bathroom breaks or walk out times accordingly.
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| Detainment Courtesy Shorts HD |
One of the films, frankly, gives cause for anyone who voted
for it to be admonished. Vincent Lambe’s Detainment
has sparked controversy in the UK, rightly so, for dramatizing the
brutal murder of toddler James Bulger without any attempt to inform his family,
seek consent from them, or empathize with their pain. The film instead directs
sympathy towards James’ killers—a pair of ten-old-boys—and their parents (who,
admittedly, probably went through hell) and greatly diminishes the suffering of
both baby James and his family. Detainment
is hugely disrespectful and irresponsible filmmaking, grossly insensitive and
borderline unwatchable, especially if one has the proper context when one
approaches it. Any claims for artistic merit fail in comparison to the film’s
emotionally exploitative tactlessness.
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| Skin Shorts HD |
As much as Detainment
is repugnant, though, it’s actually my second most-hated film of the bunch. I
truly abhor and loathe Guy Nattiv’s Skin,
which offers a dramatic interpretation of the story of neo-Nazi skinhead/white
supremacist Bryon Widner, named Johnny in the film and played by Jonathan Tucker. In real life, Widner
removed his racist tattoos during his journey to reformation. In the
movie—spoiler alert—Johnny brutally assaults a Black man named Tyree (Ronnie
Tyrone Lee), which inspires a retaliatory movement from a gang in which they abduct
the white supremacist and tattoo his skin black. In doing so, however, Skin muddles its message about the
pervasive violence and toxically racist culture that continues to thrive in the
USA. It shifts sympathy from the Black victim to the white neo-Nazi, who meets
a violent (fictionalized) end as the tables turn and he encounters the same
violence and racism he enacted daily and inspired in others, including his
young son. Skin makes one’s skin
crawl and stomach turn. It is unwatchable in its tone-deaf insensitivity. Look to short doc nominee Black Sheep for a better study of racism and its
devastating consequences.
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| Mother Shorts HD |
The premise of a child in peril fuels the emotionally
exhausting Spanish contender Mother (Madre),
directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. While not anywhere in the league of Detainment’s tastelessness, Mother remains an unpleasant watch as it
recycles the one-person-on-a-phone-in-real-time routine as one mother
frantically searches for clues when her son calls her from a beach where his
father abandoned him. These phone call gimmicks rarely work in feature-length
form (see: Locke or this year’s
Danish Oscar bid The Guilty) and Mother feels overdrawn even partway
through its 20-minute running time. However, there are moments of Mother that are masterfully executed as
it puts audiences through hell by experiencing the pain the mother feels for her
son, who moves increasingly towards the danger zone as the film progresses, and
the fear running through the mind of the young boy even though he never appears
onscreen. Marta Nieto’s performance as the terrified mother is a masterclass in
acting and she holds the film together even at its most strenuous moments.
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| Fauve Shorts HD |
It’s a relief, however, to report that this year’s much-lauded
Quebecois nominee Fauve, directed by
Jérémy Comte, succeeds where Detainment
fails abysmally and where Mother lags.
The strongest of the three “child in peril” shorts of the nominees, Fauve is riveting and tense, but not
without levity and release. Fauve
features a happy day of boys being boys that does disastrously wrong as friends
Tyler (Félix Grenier) and Benjamin (Alexandre Perrault) play rounds of chicken in
which they test one another’s gullibility. The film climaxes with an all-too
realistic disaster in the sinkhole of a cement quarry as fate intervenes
cruelly in the boys’ game. The sequence at the quarry is breathtakingly shot, a
master class in execution, timing, and blocking as Comte and cinematographer
Olivier Gosset capture the scene with nerve-wracking immediacy and tension. The
laudable performances by the two young actors make for an emotionally draining white-knuckler
as one sits on the edge of seat watching the boys’ race against time. This
cautionary fable is not an easy film to endure, but unlike two of the shorts in
this line-up, it has the payoff and sense of accountability to merit the hell
through which it puts the audience. Fauve is exceptionally well done.
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| Marguerite Shorts HD |
Finally, a tip of the hat and a big warm hug goes to Marguerite, which offers a respite from
the bleak agony of the other four films. The second of Canada’s nominees, Marguerite is a touching and bittersweet
film about an elderly woman (Béatrice Picard in the title role) who finds a
tinge of longing unlocked by her nurse, Rachel (Sandrine Bisson), who inspires
her to voice her love for the first time. This delicate two-hander written and
directed by Marianne Farley is a sensitive nod to the progress that’s been made
in recognizing that all love is equal, but that far too many people were denied
the chance to celebrate their bonds even in the recent past. Farley’s direction
and writing are remarkable for their subtlety while conveying the social mores
and religious influences that led to Marguerite’s denial and long-time
rejection of her emotions. Understated and textured performances by Picard and
Bisson allow Marguerite to rouse from her slumber. They gradually raise the
temperature of the film as it radiates warmth and compassion as Marguerite
finds peace in her heart. This touching film reminds audiences that positive
emotions are far more effective than negative ones are.
The Oscar-nominated Live Action Shorts open in Toronto at TIFF Lightbox on Feb. 8.
