Live-Action Oscar Shorts; Sing Sing; Nickel Boys

The Last Ranger

Last year, most of the Oscar nominated live-action short films were available for streaming, but this year only two were--I'm Not a Robot on YouTube and Anuja on Netflix. So I was forced to spend the $15 at IFC to see them in person. All five shared a common theme--the individual crushed by an oppressive system or outside evil forces, mostly based on real events. It's hard to chose a winner, since each was powerful in its own way. The Man who Would Not Remain Silent chronicles a harrowing train ride where in Serbia where paramilitary thugs are pulling Muslims off the train, presumably for execution. Anuja follows two Indian sisters toiling in a sweat shop. The younger has an opportunity to go to school but it means leaving her sibling behind. I'm Not a Robot is a darkly funny, but ultimately scary semi-sci-fi tale about those Catchpa tests to prove one is not a bot. 

The last two really shattered me. A Lien follows a couple applying for a Green Card for the undocumented husband when ICE makes a surprise raid. Trump appears on the TV in the waiting room and the couple's baby daughter is in danger of being taken into custody. The direction is very taut, adding the suspense as the wife scrambles to retrieve passports and stop her kid from being seized by ICE. In The Last Ranger, it started kind of slow as a ranger watches over a herd of rhinos in an African game preserve and the father of a young girl looks for work. They all come together in a tragic collision as poachers seek to mutilate the rhinos for their black-market-prized horns. Like A Lien, the action started with an seemingly innocent series of scenes--the park ranger chatting with her supervisor, the unemployed father advising his daughter to play quietly and not disturb her grandmother--but then it picked up tension surprisingly quickly for a devastating outcome. If I were an Oscar voter, I'd go with The Last Ranger.

Nickel Boys

I also caught up with the final two films nominated in the major categories--coincidentally both are about African-American men held in prison situations--Sing Sing and Nickel Boys. Colman Domingo is brilliant as an intelligent prisoner involved in the theater program and most of the cast are ex-cons playing themselves. Nickel Boys is a stunning piece of work, filmed totally from point-of-view shots. Director RaMell Ross and cinematographer Jomo Fray weren't even nominated for Oscars. The National Society of Film Critics chose it as Best Picture and I'm tempted to go along with them. Final Oscar predictions to come before Sunday night's big show.

  

2024 Oscar contenders seen:
Between the Temples (Angelika Film Center)
Conclave (Angelika Film Center)
Gladiator 2 (Regal Kaufman Astoria)
Wicked (IMAX at Lincoln Square)
The Piano Lesson (Netflix)
Hard Truths (Walter Reade/Lincoln Center)

Maria (Netflix)
His Three Daughters (Netflix)
A Real Pain (Kew Gardens Cinema)
Emilia Perez (Netflix)
Queer (Angelika Film Center)
Flow (Angelika Film Center)

Anora (Amazon Prime)

A Complete Unknown (Regal Kaufman Astoria)

Babygirl (Kew Gardens Cinema)

The Substance (Amazon Prime)

The Last Showgirl (Angelika Film Center)

Dune: Part Two (Max)

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)

The Room Next Door (Kew Gardens Cinema)

The Wild Robot (Amazon Prime)

Inside Out 2 (Disney Plus)

The Brutalist (Kew Gardens Cinema)

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (Amazon Prime)

Black Box Diaries (Paramount Plus)

Sugarcane (Disney Plus)

Nosferatu (AMC 34th Street)

Memoir of a Snail (Amazon Prime)

I'm Still Here (Kew Gardens Cinema)

The Apprentice (Amazon Prime)

Sing Sing (Amazon Prime)

Nickel Boys (Amazon Prime)

Doc. Shorts

The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Netflix)

*Eternal Father (New Yorker/YouTube)

I Am Ready, Warden (Paramount Plus)

Instruments of a Beating Heart (NY Times)

Incident (New Yorker/YouTube)

Live-Action Shorts

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (IFC Center)

Anuja (IFC Center) 

I'm Not a Robot (New Yorker/YouTube) (IFC Center)

A Lein (IFC Center)

The Last Ranger (IFC Center)

Animated Shorts

Magic Candies (IFC Center)

In the Shadow of the Cypress (IFC Center)

Yuck (IFC Center)

Wander to Wonder (IFC Center)

Beautiful Men (IFC Center)

*Short-listed but not nominated

Razzie Nominees Seen:

Unfrosted (Netflix)

Megalopolis (Amazon Prime)