Animated Shorts
Bao
I have really big expectations when it comes to Pixar shorts. They are always the cutest, have the best animation and have a good story. I thought Bao was a bit odd. The main reason I was confused is because I thought the character was a young boy the entire time. It was not until the end that I realized that the main character was supposed to be a mother morning because of her empty nest. I also was not completely won over by the whole dumpling coming to life thing. A couple of weeks after watching it initially, I realized I watched a version that only showed half of the short. I didn’t realize this until I paid for the actual Disney version. 1.99 spent and I could see the entire thing. I still think it could have been more obvious that she was a woman right from the start since that was the entire premise of the plot. But it was a very sweet story that I’m sure a lot of woman can relate to. The cultural references were also great and the animation was superb. It was definitely the best short of the year.
Animal Behavior
Animal Behavior was about animals in a therapy group. It was witty and cute, but there wasn’t a huge plot to it. It never got further than surface level. The animation was decent. But not as good as Bao.
Late Afternoon
Late Afternoon was an emotional rollercoaster. It’s about a woman dealing with Alzheimer’s. We get to see her memories coming and going, as she slowly realizes the woman who is taking care of her is actually her daughter. The story was gripping, heartbreaking and put me into an emotional puddle of tears. Maybe it’s hormones? Who knows. The animation was very elementary and I think it could have been a real winner with a bigger, Pixar-sized budget or just a better animator.
Weekends
Now onto Weekends. It’s about a boy whose parents are divorced and has to visit his father over the weekends. I grew up with divorced parents, too. Sure, it has its effects on a child, but damn it was not as creepy as Weekends was. I also don’t get why the child’s mother had a neck-brace. Are we just not going to discuss this? Weird film, weird animation, and weird choice for an award nominee. I’m not into it.
One Small Step
One small step, another Pixar short, was a cute film. It’s a short about a girl who had always wanted to be an astronaut and her cobbler father whose always there to help her step into the right direction. That’s just about it, though. I like the father and how he encouraged his daughter’s dreams. I just didn’t buy the fact that this girl, who was a good girl, had such a loving father but would not appreciate him as an adult. Then all of a sudden he dies and now she’s going to turn her life around? It was cute, good animation, but it’s far from my favorite.
Bao will win.
Can You Ever Forgive Me
Lee Israel goes through interesting journey in the film. At first you see her as a crabby woman who has become that way because she is in a hard place in her life. She does not have money to pay for rent, her cat is sick, she’s a hoarder, she’s an alcoholic and she is a has-been writer. You root for her when she starts to sell forged letters by famous literary people. She gains money and starts to get her life together. Then she gets too far into the game and you start to realize that maybe she's at the place in her life because she is not a very good person. Neither is the man who she is acquainting herself with, who (spoiler-alert) kills her cat. The movie is infuriating. You want her to be a good person so badly. At the end you accept that she just is not, but that’s alright. She learned her lesson and is paying for it. Also I apologize for my tangent, there is just a small detail that is bugging me about this film. I was so bothered by the scene where the bookshop owner takes out reading glasses to read her menu while on the date with Lee. The conversation was good, and so was the scene, but I could not get over the fact that she did not take off her reading glasses when she looked up to speak to Lee. Any glasses wearer can tell you that you can not look up at a person while wearing reading glasses. Am I nitpicking? I’m probably nitpicking. Anyways, the film was good, dialogue was witty and it was shot decently. Melissa McCarthy surprised me. She was able to transform into Lee Israel instead of playing her typical character type. She had depth and she deserved her nomination. Her costar? Not as much. I liked the guy but I didn’t think his performance showed enough sustenance to even give him the nomination. The Adapted Screenplay nomination also won’t win them anything. The script was good, but there are better nominees out there.
Movies I saw I didn’t get a chance to write about : Bohemian Rhapsody and Vice.
Commentaires