By Mitch Huttema (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 25, 2015
The 87th annual Oscars were on Sunday, and the category of live-action short films offered vast cultural, topical and stylistic variety in comparison to the major motion pictures that were nominated.
Parvaneh
Set in Switzerland, the film is about a young immigrant Afghan woman named Parvaneh struggling in her new country, trying to send money back home to her sick father. It follows her as she meets a young Swiss woman who agrees to help her send the money, but only for a price. The film moves at a slower pace than is necessary but portrays Parvaneh’s uncertainty. Unfortunately, the plot is somewhat cliché in regards to the situations Parvaneh gets into and is often predictable. While this film may not deserve to be on top of the pile, it is an uncommon perspective on the immigration game often forgotten by the inhabitants of the destination country.
Aya
Coming out of France and Israel, Aya is a film about an Israeli woman waiting at an airport whom a recently arrived traveller mistakes as his driver. She neglects to correct his mistake and travels on with him for several hours. While very beautiful and cinematically strong, the film lacks in its explanation of why the woman entered into this situation. An intriguing view on the relationships of strangers, the film is unpredictable in contrast with the passenger’s inherent desire for structure and routine. While beautiful in more ways than one, the film’s length is potentially a difficulty for some, at half the length of a feature and twice that of most shorts.
Boogaloo and Graham
Boogaloo and Graham is a captivating short story about two boys who fall in love with the chicks that their father gives them to raise. Set in Northern Ireland, military presence is apparent throughout the film, but the family lives on despite the threat. Offering a take on familial tensions, paternal love, and childhood, Boogaloo and Graham is lighthearted yet serious in its telling.
Butter Lamp
Made by Chinese filmmaker Hu Wei, this film takes place in a remote Tibetan village. It depicts a young photographer and his assistant taking family photographs of the disheveled villagers in front of his slide-up backdrops of wealthy and distant vacation-type locations. The film is shot from the perspective of the camera that is taking the photographs, and shows snippets of each family’s interactions. The juxtaposition between the wealth of the cities, in front of which the poverty-stricken but cheerful families are being photographed, is powerful to say the least.
The Phone Call
This British film follows a phone operator from a suicide hotline as she deals with a particularly troubling call. Similar to the film Locke, which was shot only in a car, The Phone Call manages to create incredible beauty while rarely ever leaving the desk of the operator. Portraying the emotional rollercoaster of the operator’s conversation with a man who has taken a bottle of pills, the film takes viewers to a place very rarely visited in movies. Themes of human compassion and the value of life are showcased while viewers are brought to tears. Incredibly well-composed, the film never seems drawn out, but stirs a sense of slow calm despite the portrayed panic and emotion.
