Short Film Trifecta

Last week I managed to see the last set of Oscar nominated short films, the live action films.  These are short stories to the novel that feature films provide.  I have to admit, I am not so fond of short stories.  I was also not overjoyed with this year's live action shorts.  That's mostly because they were a rather depressing lot.

Spousal abuse and possible death, boy soldiers in Africa (and actual death), and how we explain death to dying young children.  These were the themes of three of the live action shorts.  Which were all really good films.

The movie about the young boy who was dying was tearjerkingly sweet (in a good way).  How a caregiver attempted to comfort him and give him answers was impressive.  The film about flight from spousal abuse had me very agitated in my seat, provoking intense vicarious anxiety for those involved. And the story of the African boy soldier is painful and shocking and difficult to watch.  But probably very true to the reality of the situation.

Then there were two other lighter films.  First there was The Voorman Problem, a clever and fun story about a psychiatrist called to a jail to evaluate a prisoner who believed himself to be God.

But my absolute favorite film is entitled Pitääkö mun kaikki hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)  It was the shortest and funniest film of the bunch.  (This probably means it has no chance of winning the Oscar.)

It's a Finnish movie about a family who awakens late for a wedding.  The house looks as crazy and unorganized as mine and the mother can't believe how she has to do everything to get her husband and two girls out the door. The solution that the two girls find for the missing dresses is ingenious and hilarious. And the ending?

Well, it might be available for purchase on the internet starting some time in late February.  If I've intrigued you at all, throw a couple of bucks the filmmaker's way.  It's a fun seven minutes!