Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts

After the live action shorts, I went outside to the ticket booth at the IFC and bought a ticket for the next show, which was the Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts. This time I was prepared when I placed my bills down in the counter, and I snatched them before they flew off into the booth like before. I went back inside, and took the same seat as before.

The animated shorts were, in order of presentation:

1. Lavatory - Lovestory. A Russian line-drawn short, about ten minutes long, about the adventures of a lovelorn female men's room attendant (if you've ever been to Russia, you know what I'm talking about). She spends her life daydreaming about romance, and then her life is turned upside-down when starts receiving anonymous flowers, which are the only color in the otherwise black-and-white short.

2. Oktapodi. Barely three minutes long, this French 3-D cartoon was about the adventures of a pair of octopi in the Cyclades (Santorini?) trying to escape being taken home for dinner.

3. La maison en petits cubes. A surrealist, slow-evolving hand-drawn pencil-sketch animation from Japan about an old man who lives in a community of houses that seemingly emerge from the water. It is revealed that the houses are built on layers over time as the sea levels have risen, and we learn the story of his life backwards as he dives down to the bottom.

4. This Way Up. A British 3-D animation about a pair of hapless country undertakers who are bedeviled (literally) in their attempt to retrieve a corpse they have lost on the way to a funeral.

5. Presto. An American 3-D cartoon in the conventional style of Warner Brothers about a stage musician who is thwarted by his hungry rabbit. If you saw the theatrical release of Wall-E, this was the cartoon that was shown beforehand.

The five nominees came to less than hour total, so they padded out the viewing with a few "highly commended" shorts that weren't nominated.

6. Varmints. A half-hour long British 3-D animation about a surrealist world of animals in a sort of Orwellian hellscape that emerges from a placid meadow, and is later destroyed by huge flying jellyfish. Yes, it was that weird, but it was somehow very compelling. I thought it was better than a few of the actual nominees, but is was probably too surrealist to get nominated.

7. Hot Dog. A U.S. hand-drawn short, about three minutes long, about a firehouse dog who dreams of glory and heroism but winds up wreaking havoc during a building fire.

8. Gopher Broke. A U.S. 3-D short that was actually nominated in 2004. A hungry gopher meets his match while trying to steal food from trucks on their way to a farmer's market.

Of the five actual nominees, I just absolutely loved La maison en petits cubes, which had a tremendous emotional impact. Lavatory-Love story was my second choice, but the subject matter of urinals may hamper its chances. Oktapodi was probably my third choice, and I have feeling it will win because of its compelling humor and wild action.

I am strongly rooting against Presto, because I didn't think it was that funny or novel, and moreover because it would be a win for Pixar. They are almost certainly going to win for Wall-E in the animated feature category. The big guys shouldn't be picking up the Oscars for the shorts, which should be reserved for rewarding emerging talent and low-budget productions.