2021 Oscar-Nominated Documentary Shorts
The five finalists for this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject are available to rent as a single program at the Fine Arts Theatre and Grail Moviehouse. Following are individual reviews of each film, followed by an overall grade.
For reviews of the 2021 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts, click here.
For reviews of the 2021 Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts, click here.
Colette
by Anthony Giacchino
The story: 90-year-old former French Resistance fighter Colette Marin-Catherine travels with young history student Lucie Fouble to the concentration camp where Colette’s brother was killed.
In short: Documenting one of the last surviving Resistance members — particularly one who’s still so plucky — is an important undertaking, as is any work that seeks to educate viewers so that history doesn’t repeat itself. Giacchino layers the two women’s journey with enough archival footage and photos to keep the story active, and their experiences at the horrific historical sites are moving, though beyond the duo’s age-gap oddity, there’s little new or interesting about this familiar tale. Grade: B —Edwin Arnaudin
A Concerto is a Conversation
by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
The story: Kris Bowers, a successful young African-American composer of classical music, has a conversation with his grandfather about his path to success, and his grandfather’s own gritty philosophy and impressive life story.
In short: Both men have compelling stories to tell, and their juxtaposition is smartly achieved in this New York Times short film. As a bonus, Bowers’ haunting violin concerto, titled “For a Younger Self,” plays throughout. (You’ll want to see out the whole work later.) The conceit of having the two men speak directly into the camera is amateurish and annoying, but what they have to say almost makes up for that error in filmmaking judgment. This is the only film of these five to offer a generally upbeat narrative (although the grandfather is said to be battling cancer) and may be best saved for viewing last, so you don’t end the program with the suffering and doom that permeates the other competitors. Grade: B-plus —Bruce C. Steele
Hunger Ward
by Skye Fitzgerald
The story: Therapeutic Feeding Centers in Yemen try to save malnourished children — victims of Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes and vital supply blockade.
In short: As an advocacy work, these 40 minutes of starving child imagery are wildly effective and have the potential to inspire action — including raising funds to get food and medicine to Yemeni people in need. But there’s little notable filmmaking on display, beyond the resilience required to get up close and personal with suffering youths, grieving parents, and stressed-out doctors. Even the gorgeous aerial drone footage that opens the short is cheapened by a bookend shot that unnecessarily rotates, potentially inducing momentary queasiness for many viewers. Grade: C-plus —Edwin Arnaudin
Do Not Split
by Anders Hammer
The story: Demonstrators in Hong Kong in 2019-20 fight a losing battle to prevent the Chinese government from curtailing the individual liberties the city long enjoyed.
In short: The film’s 35-minute running time is largely devoted to footage of actual demonstrations and interviews with the determined, articulate, (mostly) young people leading the effort to resist the coming crackdown. It’s compelling, even disturbing footage — made even sadder by the knowledge that things are only going to get worse. But the oddly titled “Do Not Split” is more document than documentary, since events outside of the demonstrations themselves are left aside, except as mentioned in interviews. The film is chronological but otherwise rather shapeless — a desperate cry for help but not much of a primer on how the crisis came into being or how forces beyond the streets have responded. Grade: C —Bruce C. Steele
A Love Song for Latasha
by Sophia Nahli Allison
The story: Not wanting to reduce its named subject to the circumstances of her death, filmmaker Allison withholds until a final title card the information viewers need to understand why this movie was made in the first place: Latasha Harlins, an African-American Los Angeleno, was shot and killed without cause by a convenience store clerk in 1991 — one of the senseless incidents leading to the 1992 L.A. riots.
In short: “Love Song” is sweetly elegiac and a moving remembrance of a young woman dear to many when she was lost. It’s filled with lovely images and snippets of animation, and voices evoking Harlins’ life. What “Love Song” is not, really, is a documentary, since it declines to put Harlins’ life and death into any cultural context, past or present. Only in the final moments does Allison disclose her unspoken wider mission to remind viewers of the humanity and tragedy that are often lost in news coverage of the unmotivated murders of Black Americans that continue to occur all too regularly — a delay that undermines that mission. Grade: C-plus —Bruce C. Steele
Overall grade: B-minus. Not rated, but with adult themes and language. Available to rent via fineartstheatre.com and grailmoviehouse.com
(Photo from “Colette,” courtesy of Shorts TV)
