They may not arrive with any of the advance hype or buzz of a “Boyhood,” “Selma” or “American Sniper,” but this year’s Oscar-nominated animated and live-action short films are no less lacking in merit or worthy of checking out.
The nominees range from a mainstream Disney release to a bit of Dutch Claymation in the animated category, and, on the live-action front, films that hail from around the world, from England and Ireland to Israel and Tibet.
Both programs open Jan. 30 at Landmark's Midtown Art Cinema, 931 Monroe Drive in Atlanta. (For more information about showtimes and tickets: 404-879-0160, www.landmarktheatres.com/atlanta/midtown-art-cinema.)
ANIMATED
"Feast" (6 minutes). Given the studio's long history with animation — and its track record for taking home the Oscar gold (dating back to its first win in 1932) — this delightful new Disney effort is probably the year's front-runner. In a breathless montage of colorful vignettes, the film chronicles the life of an adorable pup who acquires a taste for everything from eggs and bacon to cupcakes and pizza. Just hold the Brussels sprouts, please. Grade: A.
"The Dam Keeper" (18 minutes). If there's a potential upset among the other nominees, it's likely to be this one, which is no less beautifully drawn (in its own less flashy fashion) and considerably more ambitious in scope. Set in a quaint village populated with a menagerie of anthropomorphic animals, the touching story follows an outcast little pig and the new fox in town who befriends him. In a word, lovely. Grade: A-.
"The Bigger Picture" (7 minutes). Singularly darker in tone, this British short involves two adult brothers (one more dutiful than the other) who are forced to deal with the failing health of their aging mother. The stop-motion technique is interesting, if a bit crude — the sets are real and full-scale, the characters and props are literal cardboard cutouts. Grade: B-.
"A Single Life" (2 minutes). A glorified comedy skit done up in Claymation style, this Dutch trifle quickly spans the entire life of a young woman, after she receives a mysterious vinyl record that comes to control her. Grade: C+.
"Me and My Moulton" (13 minutes). Least impressive in terms of its rather rudimentary, stick-figure-y animation, this film from Canada tells a story about three young sisters, their unconventional parents, and a new bicycle. Grade: C.
LIVE-ACTION
"The Phone Call" (21 minutes). In the most stylishly directed (by Mat Kirkby) and emotionally compelling of this year's live-action nominees, Sally Hawkins (Oscar nominated last year for "Blue Jasmine") plays a lonely British crisis counselor who answers a call from a distraught older man (voiced by Jim Broadbent, an Oscar winner for 2001's "Iris"). With the clock literally ticking, they strike up a genuine rapport as she tries to console and guide him. Grade: A-.
"Aya" (40 minutes). A pair of strong performances elevates this occasionally ponderous drama from Israel. An Israeli woman (Sarah Adler) allows herself to be mistaken as the airport driver of a visiting Danish musicologist (Ulrich Thomsen). Their road trip to Jerusalem is fueled by a lot of thinly veiled conversations about "destiny" and "impulse," but her ulterior motivations remain overly vague, eventually limiting the film's impact. Grade: B.
"Boogaloo and Graham" (14 minutes). A sweet-natured if fairly slight slice-of-life set in 1978 Belfast, Ireland, about two adolescent brothers and their pet chickens. Fleeting references to the political unrest of the era (scenes involving armed soldiers patrolling the neighborhood) feel jarring and disjointed, considering the story's otherwise whimsical bent. Grade: B-.
"Parvaneh" (24 minutes). A young Afghan immigrant in rural Switzerland struggles to earn money to send home to her ailing father. She ventures to Zurich, where she enlists the aid of another teenage girl with troubles of her own. The drama could have used a little extra time to more fully develop their budding friendship. Grade: B-.
"Butter Lamp" (16 minutes). The least interesting of the nominees — both narratively and cinematically — is this French-financed project, set in modern-day Tibet. A roving photographer gathers different groups of nomads for various snapshots, but the repetitive structure of the film grows tedious and never adds up to much. Grade: C.
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