ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED SHORTS: LIVE ACTION

NA WEWE

THE CRUSH

Boys of all ages, sizes and different situations, dominate the live action short nominees this year. The Crush and The Confession tell coming-of-age stories about 8-10 year-olds; a last wish from a 15 year-old terminal cancer patient is the story of Wish 143; twenty-somethings behave like teens in God of Love; and in Na Wewe a boy is terrified as he's being sorted out for execution in Burundi's tribal warfare.

Who knows how this year's nominees ended up being so boy crazy. But, resemblance aside, these films offer emotional variety and complexity. And some lively, worthwhile viewing.

GOD OF LOVE  Luke Matheny  USA/18 min

Cool, fifties black and white cinematography mix with a jazzy, bohemian band and a comic story of unrequited love.  Raymond, lead singer and dart champion (yes, it works) loves Kelly, the drummer, who only has eyes for Fozzie, the guitar player, who doesn’t love Kelly back and, well, you get the idea. It’s when Raymond magically recieves a set of “love darts” he uses to make Kelly fall in love with him that the fun begins. All the silly illogic of who pairs up with who comes to be more enjoyable than most feature romantic comedies. A shout out to cameraman Bobby Webster for creating a hip, beat look to all the goings-on.

NA WEWE (YOU TOO)
Ivan Goldschmidt  Belgium/19min

                                                                                                        
Burundi 1994. Passengers on a bus traveling a country road fall right into the middle of the civil war between the nation’s Hutus and Tutsis tribes -- basically impulsive, irrational kids with guns, real guns. Everyone seems to get more frightened by the minute as gunmen try to sort who among the passengers is a Hutu or Tutsi. Goldschmidt is good at building the tension, and showing the confusion and fear of  both sides. In a nice added touch, he has a white man sitting in the bus just watching the whole scene.

THE CONFESSION  Tanel Toom  UK/26 min

Many Catholics have questioned the why of having young children go to confession. In its twisted, entertaining way, this short takes up that question. A couple of ten-year old boys commit a crime, because, because, well, they really have nothing to confess and you can't go to the priest with zilch in the way of sins. Things go from fun  to cruel and then, as if sliding on their own momentum, to horror film like deadly. Winner of best foreign film at the Student Academy Awards.
  

THE CRUSH  Michael Creagh  Ireland/15min

Michael Creagh directs his young son Oran in this mysteriously comic tale of an elementary school boy who falls in love with his teacher. The story goes along predictably until the young lad challenges the teacher's stunned boyfriend to a duel. Then the pace picks up and Creagh keeps you guessing as to what's going to, and what truthfully, happens.

WISH 143  Ian Barnes  UK/24 min

David suffers from terminal cancer and wants to have sex before he dies. Out of frustration, and good will, a with-it priest tending him in the hospital sets things up. Director Barnes and lead actor Sam Holland keep things from descending to pathos with a stream of steady humor and witty lines. There are some real funny bits spaced throughout. With an ending that's as true to what has gone before as it is sad and sweet.