Countdown to the Oscars: Best Live Action Short

Welcome to this year’s edition of Last Cinema Standing’s Countdown to the Oscars, where we will break down each of the 23 categories, analyze the films, and make some guesses at their awards prospects.

Best Live Action Short

The nominees are:

The After

Invincible

Knight of Fortune

Red, White, and Blue

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

The After

Produced by and starring David Oyelowo, this acclaimed short follows family man Dayo (Oyelowo) in the aftermath of a mass murder that claimed the lives of his wife and daughter. Oyelowo gives a stirring performance, and it’s easy to see why, on paper, the material would attract a star of his caliber. Unfortunately, the film kind of fizzles out right at the moment where it feels like it could begin to take off.

In his grief, Dayo quits his high-powered job and takes up driving for a rideshare company. He listens to people’s lives and observes, sometimes happily, sometimes with sadness, until one day a family gets in his car: a mother, a father, and a daughter who looks remarkably similar to his own deceased child. It has all the makings of an interesting climax, but filmmaker Misan Harriman doesn’t quite know how to land the plane. All else aside, Oyelowo is excellent in the leading role, and Harriman certainly has the chops to make a great film next time around.

Invincible

Inspired by a true story, this highly lauded Canadian film tells of Marc-Antoine, a troubled kid who has been sentenced to a period of time at a youth detention center. We never learn exactly what his transgression was, but it doesn’t matter. The point of the film is to show how incarceration can wear on the souls of those imprisoned.

We see that Marc-Antoine, portrayed wonderfully by young actor Léokim Beaumier-Lépine, is smart and sensitive. He writes poetry. He gets along well with his little sister. His family loves him, even if his parents are perhaps a bit exasperated by him. But, the walls of the detention center close in around him, forcing him to believe he has only one way out of all of this: escape, in whatever form that takes.

Knight of Fortune

This is a lovely little film about love, loss, and moving on, told in a darkly humorous style that Danish filmmakers just seem to have a way with. Karl (Leif Andrée) is at the morgue to say his final goodbyes to his deceased wife, but he can’t quite bring himself to do it. He meets another man at the morgue who is there for the same purpose. They bond. Lies are told. Antics ensue. And, it’s all tremendously funny and heartwarming.

The film is written and directed by Lasse Lyskjær Noer and produced by the Danish short film master Kim Magnusson. Magnusson, who is not on the list of nominees for this film, has seven previous nominations in this category and two wins, for 1999’s Election Night and 2013’s gorgeous Helium. Knight of Fortune does not quite reach those heights, but it is an excellent effort nonetheless.

Red, White, and Blue

For me, this is far and away the best film of the bunch. Nazrin Choudhury’s short is a superbly executed thriller with amazing performances and a gut punch of a twist that will stick with you long after you see it. Brittany Snow, star of X and the Pitch Perfect film series, plays a single mom in Missouri dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. With her preteen daughter in tow, she scrapes together the little money she can and sets out across state lines to procure an abortion.

The message of the film is clear, concise, and urgent. The anti-abortion laws that are spreading across certain pockets of this country are putting people’s lives at risk, turning necessary healthcare into a harrowing fight for survival. Red, White, and Blue plays less as a warning and more like reportage of the world we have wrought, either through stunning indifference or active ignorance.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

This film played last during the nominated shorts program that played in theaters. As the screening I attended let out, a woman in the back of the theater made a comment to the effect of: Thank god this movie played because the rest were trash and this was art. Meanwhile, I sat there for 39 interminable minutes and marveled at the fact that people sit through whole feature-length movies in this style and claim to enjoy them. To each their own, I suppose.

Backed by the power of Netflix, Wes Anderson crams virtually every word of the Roald Dahl short story on which this is based into the mouths of his actors as they move about the director’s precious dioramas. I walked out of The French Dispatch when it played in theaters, and if this had been one second longer, I might have considered that course of action here, too. Benedict Cumberbatch is fine in this, as is Dev Patel. Even given that, I despised every twee little moment of this movie. But, to each their own.

The final analysis

It’s usually a good idea to point to the short with the most star power when attempting to pick the victor in this category. And, hey, look, there’s one with Cumberbatch, Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes, all working for a big-name director at the one company known for getting short films in front of voters better than any other.

It’s a shame because in a year with a deck that was less stacked, the excellent Red, White, and Blue would have a real shot at the win, but it is almost certainly not to be. It seems that everything has aligned for Anderson, working on his eighth Academy Award nomination, to win his first Oscar.

Will win: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Should win: Red, White, and Blue

Should have been here: The Anne Frank Gift Shop

A note about my favorite snub: It may occasionally be a tad on the nose and just a bit too preachy, but Mickey Rapkin’s The Anne Frank Gift Shop sure knows its way around a dark joke. Equal parts lament about the lack of Holocaust education in schools and satire of influencer culture, this black comedy has the style, wit, and performances to stand out among a sea of shorts. Rapkin will be someone to watch in this space.

#IndustrySoWhite: On Hollywood, diversity, and the Oscars

Sal's Famous Pizzeria burns in writer-director Spike Lee's masterpiece Do the Right Thing.

Ordinarily, I would not jump into the fray on an issue such as this. People a lot smarter than I and better attuned to the discussion have written about the now infamous #OscarsSoWhite hashtag and its many implications. It just seems for an issue this important, though, that more discussion is always better than less. The more we talk about race, identity, diversity, and equality, the better we can understand these topics and address problems, while the people who shut their eyes and cover their ears will be left behind.

Most of you know the facts: In the last two years, not one black, Asian, or Hispanic actor has been nominated for an Academy Award. That covers 40 nominations, and all of them have gone to white actors. I would argue history shows the Best Director category is even worse for black filmmakers. The last three Best Director winners have been either Hispanic (Alfonso Caurón for Gravity and Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman) or Asian (Ang Lee for Life of Pi), which equals the number of black directors ever nominated for an Oscar for directing.

Now, we can sit and discuss merit all day – nominations are subjective; there are only five slots per category; etc., etc. – but that misses the point. Spike Lee, a recent honorary Oscar winner who somehow has never been nominated for Best Director, shined a light on the real issue this week in announcing his boycott of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. He said:

“As I See It, The Academy Awards Is Not Where The ‘Real’ Battle Is. It's In The Executive Office Of The Hollywood Studios And TV And Cable Networks. This Is Where The Gate Keepers Decide What Gets Made And What Gets Jettisoned To ‘Turnaround’ Or Scrap Heap. This Is What's Important. The Gate Keepers. Those With ‘The Green Light’ Vote. As The Great Actor Leslie Odom Jr. Sings And Dances In The Game Changing Broadway Musical HAMILTON, ‘I WANNA BE IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS’. People, The Truth Is We Ain't In Those Rooms And Until Minorities Are, The Oscar Nominees Will Remain Lilly White.”

The statement echoed the sentiment Lee expressed in his honorary Oscar acceptance speech, and he is right. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is about 6,000 people. Its president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, has made great strides in the last couple years to open the doors to a more diverse and inclusive membership, and she has announced initiatives to do even more toward those ends. Lee and others have applauded her efforts, but it is an uphill battle.

Writer-director Ryan Coogler on the set of Creed.

When it comes to diversity in Hollywood, the Academy is not the disease but a symptom. As Lee identified, the disease exists in the board rooms and executive offices of the studios. These are the places where movies with all-white casts and all-white filmmakers are greenlit and where “black movies” are represented by an incredibly narrow and stereotyped view of the world. The Academy can only choose from films that get made, and if studios do not want to make movies with black actors and filmmakers, well, the choice is already made.

However, the Academy is not blameless. When presented with great films, no matter who made them or stars in them, it is incumbent upon the Academy to recognize that greatness. Last year, Selma was unjustly ignored by the Academy everywhere but in Best Picture and Best Original Song. It is objectively wrong that Ava DuVernay was not nominated for Best Director and David Oyelowo was left out of Best Actor. Merit may be subjective, but there is no legitimate argument to be made against Selma.

This year, there were perhaps no snubs as egregious as those, but the Academy still willfully ignored the best young filmmaker in the game (Ryan Coogler and his excellent Creed) and two of the most interesting performances of the year (Abraham Attah and Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation). At the same time, a token nomination here or there is not going to change the culture. The problem is systemic, and it is the system that must be broken down and built again.

The studios must change, and the Academy must change because the audience has damn sure changed. In Lee’s independent masterpiece Do the Right Thing, they burned Sal’s Famous Pizzeria to the ground because he refused to put any black people on the wall of fame, despite his almost exclusively black clientele. The studios could learn a thing or two from that scenario if they bothered to pay attention – but then again, they didn’t make that movie, and they still don’t make movies like that. Some folks never learn, but they need to, and they need to pay attention to the lessons the audience is teaching.

#OscarsSoWhite... Again. I Would Like To Thank President Cheryl Boone Isaacs And The Board Of Governors Of The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences For Awarding Me an Honorary Oscar This Past November. I Am Most Appreciative. However My Wife, Mrs. Tonya Lewis Lee And I Will Not Be Attending The Oscar Ceremony This Coming February. We Cannot Support It And Mean No Disrespect To My Friends, Host Chris Rock and Producer Reggie Hudlin, President Isaacs And The Academy. But, How Is It Possible For The 2nd Consecutive Year All 20 Contenders Under The Actor Category Are White? And Let's Not Even Get Into The Other Branches. 40 White Actors In 2 Years And No Flava At All. We Can't Act?! WTF!! It's No Coincidence I'm Writing This As We Celebrate The 30th Anniversary Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday. Dr. King Said "There Comes A Time When One Must Take A Position That Is Neither Safe, Nor Politic, Nor Popular But He Must Take It Because Conscience Tells Him It's Right". For Too Many Years When The Oscars Nominations Are Revealed, My Office Phone Rings Off The Hook With The Media Asking Me My Opinion About The Lack Of African-Americans And This Year Was No Different. For Once, (Maybe) I Would Like The Media To Ask All The White Nominees And Studio Heads How They Feel About Another All White Ballot. If Someone Has Addressed This And I Missed It Then I Stand Mistaken. As I See It, The Academy Awards Is Not Where The "Real" Battle Is. It's In The Executive Office Of The Hollywood Studios And TV And Cable Networks. This Is Where The Gate Keepers Decide What Gets Made And What Gets Jettisoned To "Turnaround" Or Scrap Heap. This Is What's Important. The Gate Keepers. Those With "The Green Light" Vote. As The Great Actor Leslie Odom Jr. Sings And Dances In The Game Changing Broadway Musical HAMILTON, "I WANNA BE IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS". People, The Truth Is We Ain't In Those Rooms And Until Minorities Are, The Oscar Nominees Will Remain Lilly White. (Cont'd)

A photo posted by Spike Lee (@officialspikelee) on Jan 18, 2016 at 5:03am PST

New movie review: Selma

David Oyelowo plays Martin Luther King Jr. in the brilliant new film Selma.

Where are we now? The ripples of 2014 still linger in our minds, and the first waves of 2015 are just beginning to break. Each year, we throw lavish parties and celebrate the transition from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1. We resolve to live better, do better, be better. This year, it is all going to come together. This year will be different. It rarely is, and in a couple months, we will forget to make a fuss about it. The change is cosmetic, really. We all get a little older, our clothes fade a little more in the laundry, and what once was new is now familiar.

So it goes from one year to the next, and the farther we pull back from the day-to-day pettiness of life, the more we see the easy flow from decade to decade and century to century. Years pass, structures crumble, and when we manage to pave over a few newly formed cracks, we call it progress. Yet, we ignore the foundation, long in place and little attended to, that we did not lay but for which we are all responsible.

Into this milieu drops the vitally important and stunningly beautiful Selma, from director Ava DuVernay. The film covers the time Martin Luther King Jr. and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference spent fighting for black voters’ rights in Selma, Ala., in 1965. Though blacks in the South had the legal right to vote, county registrars used tactics such as poll taxes, citizenship tests, and voucher programs to prevent them from registering.

That was 50 years ago. Think about that for a second. Fifty years is the blink of an eye in the history of modern civilization. We are not more than one or two generations removed from a time when half the population of states such as Alabama and Mississippi could not exercise a basic human right, a freedom on which this country was founded. As a nation, the U.S. has accomplished some great things, but the stain of slavery and the ever-presence of racism are permanent marks on the country’s soul. That the stain will not be washed away is evident, but the true shame is that it continues to grow, spread by the blood and tears of too many to name.

When we lose our way, it is natural to look to the past. Children look to their parents, communities to their elders, and nations to a shared history. Today, protesters march to demand equal protection under the law and justice for the black Americans whose lives are lost at the hands of law enforcement. The demonstrators look to King, long dead now but casting a tremendous shadow, to light the way forward. DuVernay’s film is a sterling account of the struggles and successes of a civil rights movement as relevant today as the day it was founded.

David Oyelowo plays King. He looks nothing like the man but carries himself in such a way that it would be hard to imagine anyone else in the role. He is the King we need now – fiery but controlled, militant but measured, a brilliant man with the weight of the world bearing down on him but with shoulders strong enough to carry the load. DuVernay films him like a superhero, placing her camera below him at every opportunity and allowing him to tower over the frame as he towers over history.

Rarely has a film so well captured the power of a single individual and the way that power radiates to those around him. When King kneels to pray, thousands kneel with him, and those thousands feel like the whole world. Oyelowo, acting from a script by first-time writer Paul Webb, takes us inside the mind of the man, demonstrating the public persona that made him famous and exploring the private worries that made him human.

The stronger King grows, the more concerned the white men in power become – President Lyndon Johnson (Tom Wilkinson), FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (Dylan Baker), Alabama Gov. George Wallace (Tim Roth), and Selma Sheriff Jim Clark (Stan Houston). For his own reasons, each wants to cut King down to size, but what they fail to realize is the strength of the movement behind him. Ultimately, the politicians will be cut down to size, and not by King, but by the power of the people he inspired.

Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the film’s single best sequence: the first march on Montgomery. By all rights, the scene should stand alongside the storming of the beaches at Normandy in Saving Private Ryan and the final showdown in The Wild Bunch as one of the best battle sequences in film history. In this single 10-minute scene, the whole picture of the bloody, brutal South and its desperate attempt to crush the Civil Rights movement is laid bare, and DuVernay reveals herself to be an incomparable talent.

Believing in the symbolism of demonstration, King proposes to lead a 50-mile march from Selma to the state capitol building in Montgomery, Ala. They will bring the fight directly to Wallace’s doorstep. At the last minute, King is pulled away, but the march will go on as planned. They arrive at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma and are greeted by the full force of Clark and his goons, as well as federal government forces. What follows is one of the most stunning pieces of filmmaking you will ever see, as the unarmed, nonviolent protesters are viciously attacked by authorities.

Mixing impressionistic flourishes with on-the-ground realism, DuVernay does not shy away from the brutality of the attack or the human cost of the struggle. Marchers, both young and old, are punched, kicked, whipped, and brutalized as the fog of tear gas billows up around the bridge. All the while, the news cameras roll and images of the attack are broadcast around the country.

In this way, the tide will change. The whole world is watching, and in response, those with the will to do so rise up and say, “Not in our name.” The shocking nature of the clear violations going on in Selma spurs honorable men and women, black and white, to go down south and show their support for basic human rights. It is a watershed moment for the movement, but it is not the end of the struggle. It is only evidence of how difficult the struggle will be.

The struggle continues today in the streets of Ferguson, Mo., New York City, Phoenix, Oakland, and everywhere inequality thrives. The fight will go on because it must go on, and the light cast by leaders of the past such as King can show us the path we must take. Selma should be required viewing – in schools, in churches, in the halls of Congress, anywhere you can put up a screen, really. This is filmmaking of the most vital kind because it not only shows us where we have been but where we may be headed while asking the most important question of all: How are we going to get there?

See it? Yes.