Two stories of hate groups and three humanitarian organizations bookend this year's Oscar lineup of best documentary short films. The majority of the short is told from the child's perspective, capturing this contradictory mix of familial affection and extreme hatred for "the other."
LIFEBOAT DOCUMENTARY SHORT SKIN
Skin is partially liberated from its own facile twist by the performance of Jackson Robert Scott (It) as the man's young son, who idolizes his father but begins to feel the stirrings of a conscience as the true scope of his violent behavior comes into play. But something about Mother's incompleteness - and the mysterious role of Blanca Apilánez as Marta's own visiting mother - plunges this version deeper into a nightmare space, rendering it that much more difficult to shake off.Īn American neo-Nazi ( Snowfall's Jonathan Tucker) gets his comeuppance in this shock drama that plays like one of those racial allegory sci-fi films from the 1970s and '80s, only without the camp factor. Sorogoyen is currently prepping a feature film that builds off the short, which will be welcome news for anyone craving a more pat resolution.
Nieto taps into a deep, primal fear of being far away and powerless to help a loved one in danger. Tension builds expertly in this tiny space, thanks to a powerhouse performance from Marta Nieto, who ramps up her own distress with every new twist until a few drips have become a burst pipe. Set entirely in one Madrid apartment, almost all of it in one take, the film follows a single mother who receives a distressing call from her young son while he is on a beach trip with his father a country away. If the French-Canadian film is ultimately a bit too timid, it's still welcome to see a matter-of-fact approach to a story that would have been relegated to LGBT-themed festival sidebars only a few short years ago.ĭon't forget to breathe when you watch this nail-biter of a thriller from Spanish writer-director Rodrigo Sorogoyen. A smart script by writer-director Marianne Farley subtly considers changing social acceptance between the generations and begins wading into some interesting territory about the limits of geriatric care. Marguerite is a quiet domestic drama about a terminally ill woman (Béatrice Picard) who reflects on a lost love as she bonds with her much younger caretaker (Sandrine Bisson). The only nominee in which terrified little boys are neither seen nor heard is also the only one directed by a woman. Writer-director Vincent Lambe's drama, based on the real transcripts of the killers' interrogations, is largely set in the police stations where they confessed, focusing on their dawning realization that they have done something truly unforgivable.
The "James Bulger case," as it became known, shocked the United Kingdom and resulted in the two killers being tried and convicted as adults.
The most controversial of the five nominees, Detainment is a fact-based drama about two 10-year-old boys who kidnapped, tortured, and brutally murdered a 2-year-old child in 1993 Liverpool. Here we break down all of the nominees, which may be currently playing as a showcase in a theater near you. What can we learn about ourselves by watching so many loss-of-innocence stories? Let's find out.
Perhaps they're just upset because their category was the only Shorts award to be cut from this year's live Oscars telecast. If the theme of this year's animated short Oscar nominees was "parenthood," the theme of 2019's live-action shorts is "boys in trouble."įrom a son of white supremacists to real-life child murderers, the young men in four out of five of this year's films plunge into a darkness where adults fear not tread. It's nominated now for an Oscar at the 91st Academy Awards. Jérémy Comte's live-action short film Fauve took home a special jury prize at Sundance.
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