There's something strange going on with the Oscar's live action shorts this year...

My original plan for this was to rank all of the live action shorts nominated this year. And then I started watching them.

Normally, I'm a big fan. "Stutterer" back in 2016? Amazing. And I've definitely seen some great short films this year. But the ones up for Academy Awards this year are, in a word, depressing. That's not to say they aren't great films - they are. But what threw me off was how dark and distressing not one but four out of the five films are.

I started with "Fauve," a French-Canadian film from director Jeremy Comte. It ruined the rest of my day. Yes, it is a beautifully shot film with large, peaceful landscapes. And there is no doubt that it is an important film, with its examinations of masculinity and the relationship between humans and the natural world. But my initial reaction was "Why did I just watch this?" If you want to give yourself a panic attack, watch this movie. It is heavy. It is hard to watch.

I set out to watch the other films, looking at their descriptions. Then I decided I'd better not. "Madre" is about a child that gets lost. "Detainment" is a true story based on the 1993 James Bulger murder - that logline alone sent me down a black hole of murder cases I wish I'd never heard of. Two I may try again later are "Marguerite," a film about an elderly woman's friendship, and "Skin," about race relations in a small American town.

Perhaps saying that 80% of this year's live action short nominations make me upset about the state of the world is a naive, one-dimensional statement, but I can't help it. They do make me upset. As a whole, 2018 was a pretty bleak year, and it isn't surprising that its films reflect that. I guess I just wish it was a different way. Maybe the Pixar shorts are more my speed.

Oh, and if you really want to watch "Fauve" (and don't say I didn't warn you) here is a link:

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2018/10/03/fauve/