Hans’ Oscar Bites

On the whole this is a pretty solid group of contenders this year, with one no-argument standout and nothing super egregious lurking. Idk, I don’t have as many thoughts year over year about this and the other shorts categories as I used to but nice reprieve from talking about the same 5-7 films in the other categories

The nominees are:

• Butterfly
• Forevergreen
• The Girl Who Cried Pearls
• Retirement Plan
• The Three Sisters

In order of preference:

5) FOREVERGREEN – (Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears)
An orphaned bear is raised by a pine tree. I had very high hopes for this from the outset of the animation, which is absolutely gorgeous. Was feeling that it was going to bring like a classic Pixar short vibe. But the story left much to be desired, and each story beat could easily be predicted from one moment to the next. The film ends on a Bible verse, and suddenly it clicked that the whole thing was kinda just a clunky Prodigal Son metaphor. Which can be done really well and in more interesting ways! But this wasn’t it.

4) BUTTERFLY (Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens)
A short film about the life of Alfred Nakache, a Jewish French swimmer who participated in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Rendered in lovely acrylic/watercolor-style animation, there’s a dreamy smoothness to this narrative that’s pretty engrossing, especially as you realize what’s unfolding in slow horror, much like i’m sure the general sentiment of the public during the rise of Nazsim. Timely!

3) THE THREE SISTERS (Konstantin Bronzit)
Three sisters who live on an island rent out a room to a fun visitor. This to me is kind of the quintessential animated short: accessible premise, fun animation, a story that hinges on one or two bits that it maximizes the use of, and we’re in and out in a timely manner. A few implied naughty bits make this a fun one to watch with an audience without necessarily being crass.

2) THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS (Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski)
A man tells his granddaughter the story of how he came into one of his most prized possessions: a pearl of particular beauty. This was a short that I wasn’t quite sure the direction it was headed in but the work of a good short story is one that doesn’t quite have you knowing where you’re going but keeps you engaged in the journey. There’s some really interesting animation here and storytelling stories, ending with a twist that I won’t spoil but helps bring the whole thing into a new light and perspective. Really fun stuff.

1) RETIREMENT PLAN (John Kelly and Andrew Freedman)
A man lists out the things that he plans for his life when he retires, with various visual accompaniments. Inventive, witty, and hilarious, this was an easy win for me. I’ve been fascinated with Irish accents lately, in no small part due to Maura on The Traitors, and Domnhall Gleeson’s pleasant Irish brogue listing out all the things his character would do when he retires was the closest I have ever felt to that classic bit/joke about enjoying hearing someone read a phone book.

• WILL WIN: Retirement Plan
• COULD WIN: Butterfly