2007 Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Animated

ayleekay

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I saw this program this afternoon. If you're in Seattle, there's a special engagement ending this Friday 22FEB2008.

The nominees are:

1. I Met the Walrus: In 1969 a 14-yr old snuck into John Lennon's room and recorded an impromptu interview. It's sort of like R. Smiegel's "Fun w/ Real Audio".

2. Madame Tutli-Putli: A timid woman boards a mysterious night train and has a series of frightening experiences.

3. Even Pigeons Go to Heaven: A priest tries to sell an old man a machine that he promises will transport him to Heaven.

4. My Love: Set in 19th century Russia, this is a coming-of-age tale of a teenage boy in search of love, torn between a peer and an older woman. The most imaginative of the lot as this resembled an impressionist painting come-to-life. You have to see it just to witness the technique.

5. Peter and the Wolf: a young boy and his animal friends face a hungry wolf in Prokofiev's classic musical piece. I highly recommend showing this piece to children, as they'll learn not to take vengeance on animals (who are only acting on their primal instincts).

My personal fave was Madame Tutli-Putli, a stop-motion piece that was dark and eerie. Perhaps the conclusion doesn't pay off but overall I enjoyed the medium and the visuals. The realism in Madame's eyes are chilling.

My 2nd fave was Peter & the Wolf, mainly due to the amazing score. I liked the morality tale and there was some genuine humor.

My 3rd fave was My Love, not so much for story as for its uncanny technique of animating the impressionist style.
 
watching this presentation today inspire me to purchase the 2005 dvd release of the nominated shorts. The release has all 5 live-action shorts and selected animated shorts, one of which is the Jasper Morello short. If you've not seen, it's a must! I'm hoping for an R1 as it's only available in Australia. I'm not sure if the AU dvd is R4 or regionless.
 
Disappointed by this year's batch of shorts. Only two I really liked were All Pigeons Go to Heaven, being the only really funny one in the bunch, and I Met The Walrus, due to the interesting subject matter despite being obvious in execution. My Love and Madame Tutli-Putli were beautiful, but weren't that well plotted. Peter and the Wolf was flat out boring, and the animation was rather ugly and unexpressive.
 
I think My Love is the critics' fave for the win this year. I heard the director created a similar short about 10 years ago baed on Hemingway's The Old Man & The Sea.
 
here's an advertisement for the animated shorts program, courtesy of magnoliapictures and y-tube. DVD TBD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO3VslfW9yE

I think they're cheap w/ the animated shorts on dvd. The winner will most certainly be featured as well as one other. Though Beatle-heads would want "I Met the Walrus" as part of the collection I suspect "My Love" or "Madame Putli Tutli" will be the other feature. I just hope "Even Pigeons..." is excluded. That piece was the least grounded of the group. Too bad they don't release live-action & animated shorts on seperate volumes.
 
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