Opening in Boulder on Wednesday are the Academy Award nominees for best documentary short films (not reviewed here), live-action short films, and best animated short films. Both the live-action and animated shorts programs offer a high degree of creativity. If I had to choose one over the other (separate admissions are being charged at the International Film Series), I’d pick the live-action shorts.
Catch them while you can
But wait, then I’d miss the brilliant and funny Let’s Pollute, an animated film from director Geefee Boedoe. Bodoe displays considerable wit in presenting what seems to an alternate-universe educational film, one that encourages viewers to make sure to their bit to despoil the world. We’re talking satire, of course.
And I’d also miss, The Lost Thing. A lovely bit of animation from Australia, Lost Thing tells the story of a boy who finds a ... well ... lost thing, an improbable cross between a deep-sea creature and a machine. The boy tries to find the thing a home.
Among the live-action shorts, I’m partial to The Confession, a dark look at English boys on the verge of their first communions, and The Crush, a surprising Irish entry about a schoolboy’s infatuation with his teacher. Wish 143, about a cancer-stricken teen-ager who’d like to have sex before he expires, is equally worthy.
Oh hell, go see both programs (or all three). A healthy dose of short films has the kind of restorative power movie fans may need to keep themselves going during a dry stretch at the movies.