The Great Oscar Baiter

As we ready ourselves to enter our last month in A Year in Shorts, I find myself looking back. And forward. And at this exact moment. Really just all sorts of different times, I’m looking at them right now. And it has nothing to do with any sense of nostalgia, and everything to do with today’s short, the 2014 Danish film A Single Life! (via Wikipedia) Directed by Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins and Job Roggeveen, A Single Life had a somewhat unusual road to the Oscars. According to this article I found, Job, Joris and Marieke (that's the name of the animation studio as well as the directors) intended it to be played in Dutch cinemas before various blockbuster releases. It wasn't until the film was completed that someone even suggested submitting it to the Oscars. Can you imagine something like that happening in America? The pre-cinema shorts we have here are terrible. I, for one, have no desire to see Regal's Dr. X-Plore celebrated the Oscars, and am grateful for the fact th...

Well, it’s time. I’ve been teasing it for a while now, and I knew I’d have to face it sooner or later. Yes, today we’re looking at Trees and Jamaica Daddy. It will be painful. It will be annoying. And we will all probably wish we had done literally anything else with our time. But it’s an Oscar-nominated film, so watch it we must. And as we do, keep one thing in mind- THIS film was considered more Oscar-worthy than What’s Opera, Doc? (via The Big Cartoon Database) A quick, and unfortunate, addendum before we get to the topic at hand- a week or so ago, I made the declaration that Robin Hoodlum would be the last UPA film in our Year in Shorts. It turns out that was a mistake, and it seems as if we've got a couple more UPA films to get through before we're done with them. In my defense, it was an easy oversight to make. As is well-established by now, I'm quite fond of UPA shorts in general, and have covered them fairly positive this past year. How was I supposed to remember ...

While I do consider myself a fan of classic film comedy, I’ll be the first to admit that I have some pretty glaring blindspots. Most of the films of Laurel and Hardy, for instance, or the works of Abbott and Costello. But perhaps the biggest gap in my comedy watching habits are the Three Stooges. Which is kind of weird if you think about it. After all, if the rest of their films are anything like their 1934 Oscar-nominated short Men in Black, then odds are I’ll probably like them! (via Wikipedia) Not even remotely related to the Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones vehicle of the same, Men in Black (directed by Raymond McCarey, younger brother of Duck Soup director Leo McCarey) follows the Stooges on their first day working as doctors in a hospital. If you think this is a bad idea, so does everyone else- they only graduated med school because they'd repeated their senior year too many times. An absurd premise to be sure, but Men in Black is an absurd short, so who's complaining? The ...

During the 1990s, the world of animation was infested with films like Anastasia, Quest for Camelot and The Swan Princess, the desperate attempts of rival studios and animators trying to compete with the Disney Renaissance. Many of them failed, of course; people know a knockoff when they see one, and the wiser course of action would have been to offer something different. True, there were some films which managed to pull it off- The Prince of Egypt is just as good as the best of Disney’s output at the time- but they were the exception that proved the role. But we can take comfort in the knowledge that absolutely no lessons were learned. (If you don’t believe me, check out all the studios trying to create their own cinematic universe to rival Marvel.) At any rate, the lesson is clear- studios that aren’t Disney shouldn’t try to be Disney. As such, it seems almost unfair that Disney seems to be significantly more successful at imitating other studios. And that logic apparently applies...

While the animators at UPA were the pioneers in the field of limited animation, they were far from the only practitioners. And while few ever did it as well as they did, there were plenty of studios which managed to pull it off pretty well. The National Film Board of Canada, for instance, did a decent job with today’s short, Gerald Potterton’s 1962 short My Financial Career. (via IMDb) Based on a story by Stephen Leacock, My Financial Career takes a humorous look at the bureaucratic nightmare that is the world of banking. It follows the story of an average young man (voiced by Stanley Jackson) with a horrible fear of banks and a tendency to act irresponsible with his money. Unfortunately the man finds himself in possession of more money than he knows what to do with, and has to eventually face his fears. What follows is a pretty silly, straightforward tale of a man who lets his anxieties and awkwardness make things a great deal more difficult than they need to be. Now while I might n...

Let’s be honest- if any decade was a mixed bag when it came to Oscar-winning animated shorts, it was the 1970s. On the one hand you’ve got films like Frank Film or that animated version of A Christmas Carol I still haven’t seen but everyone assures me is good. On the other hand, you’ve got The Crunch Bird or Is It Always Right to Be Right? Lots of highs and lows is what I’m saying. Thankfully, today’s short definitely belongs in the former category. So buckle up as we discuss Eunice Macaulay and John Weldon’s 1978 short, Special Delivery. (via TV Tropes) Another production from our friends at the National Film Board of Canada, Special Delivery tells the story of Ralph, a careless man who decides not to clear his front porch one morning. What follows from this one simple act of laziness is a series of escalating accidents, poor decisions and horrible misunderstandings, resulting in a delightfully dark comedy which would make the Coen Brothers blush. Going into too much detail would...

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times- some films are just plain damn weird. Oh sure, experimental cinema is often very daring and groundbreaking, pushing the limits of what filmmaking can be in bold and unexpected directions. But there’s no denying that most experimental films are still plain damn weird. And while I have nothing against films that are just plain damn weird, I do admit that I find them a little more easily digested as a short than a feature. And even then, sometimes that’s pushing it. Will that be the case with Carmen D’Avino’s Pianissimo? Well, let's find out. (via TV Tropes) Before we begin, I would be remiss if I didn't confess that the only version of Pianissimo I was available to find online is a horrible bootleg, so I'm not seeing the film at its best. Considering the fact that this short was released in 1963 (and that the director passed away seventeen years ago), you would think that copyright holders wouldn't be quite so str...

If there’s one thing everyone associates with Disney- aside from their cruelty, malice and will to dominate all life- it’s fairy tales. The studio built its reputation off its princess films, both in the Golden Age and the Renaissance. But Disney’s dalliances with the world of folklore wasn’t limited to their features, of course. They also made great fodder for animated shorts. Case in points- the 1938 film Brave Little Tailor. (via Wikipedia) Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, who has easily the best name out of Disney's Nine Old Men, Brave Little Tailor is, as you'd expect, a fairly loose adaptation of the original story. Mickey Mouse, due to a series of coincidences and farcical misunderstandings, find himself conscripted by the king to slay a giant. (Interestingly, all the characters in this film save the giant are animals, while the giant himself is portrayed as a human, potentially hinting towards what Mickey and the gang seem to think of us.) While Mickey probably could t...

Earlier this year we looked at Ryan Larkin’s Walking , a rather strange and highly influential short. I mentioned at the time that my first impression of Walking was not a positive one, but that time and context helped me appreciate it more. And perhaps the most important ingredient in that newfound respect was today’s short, Chris Landreth’s animated documentary, Ryan. (via Wikipedia) Although once considered one of the best animators of the 60s and 70s, Ryan Larkin fell on some hard times, struggling with cocaine and alcohol addiction, affecting his career and personal life. Larkin faded into relative obscurity, but fate intervened when he was selected to be a committee member for the Ottawa International Film Festival alongside animator Chris Landreth. (If Landreth's name sounds familiar, it's because we've covered him before. Stylistically, Ryan has a great deal in common with The End, albeit married to a more grounded story.) After learning Larkin's life story,...