This week, Pioneer Valley residents have the opportunity to watch a special showing of this year’s Oscar-nominated animated short films. Following the five award nominees, the Pleasant Street Theater will also feature a highly commended film, “URS,” that narrowly missed out on a nomination. Reviewed in order of appearance:
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage
The first film in the series, “Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage” is an 11-minute piece by French writer/director Bastien Dubois. The film animates a photo album of a man’s journey to Madagascar and his interaction with the people there. From a café chat to a local funeral, the music flows through each scene with the cursive script of the photo caption trailing by before the picture comes to life.
“Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage” is unusual in its varied use of animation styles within the film. Dubois depicts the characters as faceless, colored heads when the camera is further away, but their features sharpen when wrinkles, eyes and mouths are drawn in for a conversation across a table.
The film starts and ends with an airplane out of the book, but the story within features a number of scenes that don’t have relevance to each other, except that they were all during this trip to Madagascar.
Let’s Pollute
Geefwee Boedoe co-wrote, directed, and produced this six-minute American satirical film portraying the benefits of pollution in the style of a 1950s or 60s educational film. This environmentally-aware short is a humorous “how to” guide for creating waste, shared via voice-over with mute father, mother and child characters.
The Lost Thing
“The Lost Thing” is a beautifully told story of how the wonderment, close observation and devotion of younger people disappear over time with the bustle of work.
The main character is a boy whose parents care more about a soiled rug than tending to the “lost thing” – a large, metal mug-shaped creature with tentacles and bells hanging out its hatches.
This 15-minute film urges us to remember our bottle cap collections and beach combing days, and warns against being sucked into the doldrums of a constant struggle between war and taxes.
The Gruffalo
Helena Bonham Carter stars in this 27-minute family-friendly short about a mother squirrel (Carter) telling her children a story about a mouse with an unnaturally long tail.
The mouse’s adventure begins when he is unable to scurry up a tree to get an acorn. Throughout the tale, the mouse runs into a series of predators voiced by Tom Wilkinson, John Hurt, Rob Brydon, and Robbie Coltrane. However, the long-tailed mouse is able to outsmart them all by weaving a tale about his friend, a ferocious creature called the Gruffalo.
Day and Night
The final Oscar-nominated film by Disney Pixar is probably the most well-known of the set; at six minutes long, it preceded “Toy Story 3” for viewers who saw it in theaters.
“Day and Night” follows the characters Day and Night as they discover each other’s existence, sparking a period of fear and mistrust. As the two come to find they cannot occupy the same space at the same moment, Day and Night work together to allow each other to have a turn at a rooster alarm clock and counting sheep.
Urs
In addition to the five films nominated for the Academy Award, Pleasant Street Theater has included the lauded German film “Urs” as a bonus feature.
The 10-minute film depicts a son who wants a better life for himself and his aging mother. Yet, when the son attempts to leave, his mother stubbornly refuses to leave their home and her wicker chair. Nevertheless, the young Urs straps his mother – still sitting in her chair – onto his back and begins the dangerous journey of climbing over the mountains.
A poignant story about coping with large changes in life and family, “Urs” tugs at the heartstrings of the audience.
Although the 2011 Academy Awards may be over, these shorts are a must-see for any film fan, and seeing all of them is only as time-consuming as one short-length feature.
Margaret Clayton can be reached at [email protected]
