Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts

Seen at: Lyric Cinema Cafe, 4 pm on Wednesday.

Last year one of the highlights of my movie-going experiences was my three-day trip to New York City to stay with my cousin. I spent the entire time going to movie theaters in Harlem and lower Manhattan. Among my favorite places was the IFC in the West Village, where I saw the Oscar nominated animated shorts and live-action shorts. At the time I thought, "cool, this is something I could only do in New York or L.A."

Well, I didn't realize they had released these nationwide, and that this year I'd have the chance to see them in little old Larimer County on the High Plains, at my favorite local dry-cleaners-turned-independent-movie-house.

By now I've become pretty good friends with Ben, one of the owners and operators of the Lyric. We chat whenever I come in, and swap informal reviews. I dropped by the Lyric for an afternoon showing of the Oscar shorts, and I killed time telling him how bad Legion was, right up until I had to duck into the minute little auditorium, where I slumped onto one of the couches.

I like the idea of seeing shorts like this. I suits my attention span. I know I'm not going to be taxed by a godawful crummy narrative that will absorb two hours of my time. At worst, we get a new story every ten minutes or so.

The shorts were released in the same format as last year. Unlike last year, however, the ordering was different. First we got four of the Oscar-nominated animated shorts, and then we got a bunch of "highly commended" ones that weren't nominated. I'm thinking: aren't there five nominees? Where is the fifth one?

It out that they put the fifth nominee, called Logoland (from France) last, after the "highly commended" ones.
It was last partly because it contains profanity. It was also last because it blew away all the other ones. There is simply no contest this year.

Imagine a Quentin Tarantino-type violent cop movie but in a world in which everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) is made out of commercial logos. Michelin men cops shoot it out with an evil Ronald Mcdonald. Every frame in this movie is a world in which logos are everything. I can't tell you how cool this is. It must have taken the film makers years to gather all the corporate logs necessary to create this world. Some were downright obscure, but fun, as when the evil Ronald Mcdonald makes his escape on the motorcycle from the poster for Grease 2, complete with the little number 2 on the flag on the motorcycle.

Ben and I chatted on the way out. He agreed completely with my assessment. We both couldn't believe that Logoland was even made.

"There's no way they could have gotten permission for any of this," Ben said. "It's like they are daring all those companies to sue them."

Indeed. We're not talking lightweigts of trademark and copyright here. We're talking the heavies of corporate brand enforcement. For example, as we pull out over an earthquake devastated California, we see the Disney castle logo sinking in the sea.

"The only way this won't win the Oscar is if the voters get scared," I told Ben. "I hope they don't wuss out and give it to Wallace and Grommit short."

To be fair, the Wallace and Grommit short (the longest by far, at a half hour) was good, but it felt like an elaboration of the same kind of themes I see every week (namely that the only reason an attractive woman would pay attention to a timid Postmodern man is because she has some kind of evil design or plot to use him---yawn).

One thing I noticed: except for Logoland, which felt life-affirming despite its violent theme, and the other French entry (about a man in an awkward situation in a restaurant), the nominees featured strong images and themes of death.

Even cartoons are bleak this year.