Local viewers get to vote on Oscar-nominated shorts

What used to be mystery categories at the Academy Awards each year have become a local tradition that Omahans can weigh in on just for fun, thanks to Film Streams.

For the third year in a row, Omaha’s nonprofit art house movie theater will show all five Oscar nominees for best animated short film and, in separate screenings, for best live-action short film at Film Streams’ downtown Ruth Sokolof Theater.

Screenings of both groups of shorts begin today and run for just one week. Film Streams will collect ballots to tally audience members’ favorites in each category and will announce Omaha’s “winners” before the Academy unveils its own choices March 7.

A heads-up: Both the live-action and animated films this year contain adult themes, violence and language worthy of an R rating. A brief overview of the films:

Animated

“French Roast,” France, 8 minutes. Forgetting to bring your wallet to a Parisian cafe can have consequences. So can drinking more and more coffee to stall the waiter. Great computer-generated detail on things like cigar smoke and a mirror, as well as characters’ faces and postures.

“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty,” Ireland, 6 minutes. Omaha Film Festival fans might recognize this one, which won a festival prize last year. Alternating two distinct styles of animation, the film shows a granny with an Irish lilt putting her own spin on a traditional fairy tale and scaring her grandchild bug-eyed. Very funny.

“The Lady and the Reaper,” Spain, 8 minutes. An old woman is ready to join her beloved in the afterlife, but an egotistical doctor fights the Grim Reaper over the fate of his patient, using extraordinary measures. Played for laughs, but there’s a quiet point in there about end-of-life decisions.

“Logorama,” Argentina, 16 minutes. A Los Angeles cops-and-robbers chase comes alive in vivid color with characters and backdrops made entirely of corporate logos. Esso Girl, Big Boy, Michelin Man, Mr. Clean, the Planter’s Peanut, Ronald McDonald, the Green Giant and the MGM lion all have roles in this clever, hip and profane satire of our commercial world. Hilarious.

“Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death,” United Kingdom, 30 minutes. Wallace the baker is in love with the Bake-O-Lite bread girl, not realizing she’s a serial killer. Her French poodle and Gromit must save Wallace from his oblivious, besotted self. This is creator Nick Park’s sixth Wallace & Gromit nomination, and he has won four Oscars — most recently for “The Curse of the Were Rabbit.” Howlingly funny, with so many background jokes you need to see it more than once to catch them all.

Live action

“The Door,” Ireland, 17 minutes. A sobering look at the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and its impact on one particular fictitious family. Poignant. In Russian, subtitled.

“Instead of Abracadabra,” Sweden, 22 minutes. A twentysomething loser drives his parents mad over his ambitions to be a magician. Dad just wants him to get a job before he accidentally kills someone. The humor and characterizations are priceless. In Swedish, subtitled.

“Kavi,” India/USA, 22 minutes. Surprisingly moving story of a family caught in slavery at a brick factory in India. The central character is a boy about 8 years old who wishes he could join rugby-playing schoolboys nearby. This film is entered in the 2010 Omaha Film Festival competition, March 8 through 14. In Hindi, subtitled.

“Miracle Fish,” Australia, 17 minutes. A bullied boy retreats to the quiet of the school infirmary on his birthday, but he is left more alone than he ever imagined. A sinister twist to a very personal portrait.

“The New Tenants,” Denmark/USA, 20 minutes. Bickering buddies who move into an apartment get entangled in its dark past after a neighbor asks to borrow flour. Profane dialogue and violence spice the dark, dark humor.

Contact the writer:

444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com

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