Oscar Nominated Short Films – Live Action

Saturday Travis and I went to a screening of all of the live action and animated short films nominated for Academy Awards this year. Let's take a look at the live action short films today:

The Confession (UK – 26 minutes)

Nine year old Sam is making his first confession soon. The problem is he's a good little boy and doesn't have anything to confess. His friend Jacob decides to help him out by planning a prank that Sam can confess to pulling with him. Unfortunately the innocent prank turns horribly tragic.

The Crush (Ireland – 15 minutes)

Eight year old Ardel is in love with his classroom teacher Miss Purdy and is very disappointed when he discovers she has a boyfriend. Ardel is determined to show his teacher that HE is the one for her.

God of Love (USA – 18 minutes)

Dart-throwing lounge singer Raymond Goodfellow has a hopeless crush on Kelly, the drummer in his band. To make things worse, Kelly has a hopeless crush on Raymond's best friend Fozzie. Raymond thinks his prayers are answered when one day he receives a mysterious package of love darts in the mail.

Na Wewe (Belgium/Burundi – 19 minutes)

It's 1994 and a civil war is raging in the African country of Burundi. A gang of Hutu rebels stops a minibus and trys to sort out who is Hutu and will survive and who is a Tutsi and will be killed.

Wish 143 (UK – 24 minutes)

A 16 year old with terminal cancer is granted one wish from the Dreamscape Charity. He surprises them by wishing to lose his virginity.

These were all wonderful films. The Confession was unpredictable, dark and the little boy who played Sam is a terrific actor. The Crush was my personal favorite of the live action shorts. It was the perfect mix of humor and drama with a suspenseful ending that had me on the edge of my seat. God of Love reminded me of a Woody Allen movie (in a good way) with it's neurotic, dorky main character. Na Wewe was disturbing and hard to watch but had a powerful message. Wish 143 started out silly and then took an unexpected sentimental turn towards the end.

Because it was the film with the most powerful message, I predict that Na Wewe will win the Oscar.