Basketball, Bonding & Bullies: 2018’s Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts

Have you ever filled out an Oscar prediction ballot? It’s a difficult task, for three reasons. The first is that tricky differentiation between the films you want to win and the films you think will win. The second is trying to make a judgment in the technical categories that you don’t fully understand (the difference between sound mixing and sound editing often proves flummoxing).

The third is in the three short film categories: Live Action, Documentary, and Animation. It’s hard to watch the Oscar nominated shorts before the ceremony; increasingly they are gaining theatrical releases, but it’s still fairly uncommon to see them in a cinema near you. And it’s a shame, because within these shorts often lies some of the best filmmaking of the whole year: inventive, witty, and visually rapturous.

Those descriptors are all fitting of this year’s crop of animated shorts. Sentimental and surprising, gorgeous and gory; watching them one after another it’s impossible not to be struck by the talent on show. Here’s a brief rundown of 2018’s Oscar nominated animated shorts. If you get the opportunity to watch them yourself, don’t miss it.

Dear Basketball

Dear Basketball is, quite literally, a love letter to basketball.

Before retiring, at the end of 2015, Kobe Bryant wrote a passionate paen to the sport he’d dedicated his life to. In the short, Bryant narrates his letter, which covers his childhood obsession, his sadness over retiring, and his gratitude for all basketball has given him.

Whilst Bryant‘s words are heartfelt and touching, what makes Dear Basketball stand out is the hand-drawn animation by Glen Keane (ex of Walt Disney). Some of these images of Bryant‘s life and career are no more than sketches, but they flow into each other so smoothly, underlining that despite all his skill and the accolades he has gathered, at heart he has remained that same little boy who loved basketball more than anything.

The John Williams score is a bit too, well, John Williams, but Dear Basketball is made with deep feeling, and it really shows; you don’t have to know a thing about basketball to find it touching. It’s currently the bookies’ favourite to take home the Oscar.

 Negative Space

Aside from being this year’s sole stop-motion nominee, Negative Space is also the short most likely to make you cry.

Our narrator tells us that whilst other boys bonded with their fathers over sport, his most meaningful paternal moments came when his Dad was teaching him how to pack a suitcase. The simple task of putting clothes in a bag becomes a demonstration of the unspoken but immeasurable love between a father and a son.

Who’d have thought a short film about luggage could be so moving and so innovative? Negative Space showcases some truly lovely moments, the best of which is when our young protagonist dives into a literal sea of clothes, down to the bottom of the ocean where socks and jeans float like seaweed. Upon reaching the surface, he finds himself back inside his suitcase.

The stop-motion gives the film a tactility lacking in some of the other shorts, and that gives the devastating final moments even more of an emotional punch. If Lady Bird is the Oscar nominee most likely to make you call your mum this year, then Negative Space is the one that will make you call your dad.

LOU

You can tell you’re in a good year for Oscar nominated animated shorts when the Pixar entry is the weakest.

Not that there’s anything wrong with LOU, which played before theatrical screenings of Cars 3 last year. The story of a schoolyard bully taught a lesson by a collection of items from the Lost & Found box showcases all the imagination and sentiment that we’ve come to expect from the world’s most famous animation studio. The various ways that the items in the Lost & Found box combine to create an anthropomorphic ‘monster’ are particularly entertaining.

Compared with this year’s other nominees however, it comes up short. It’s the least visually appealing of the bunch by a long way. It isn’t as funny as Revolting Rhymes, it doesn’t have the final scene kick of Garden Party, it’s not as heartfelt as Dear Basketball, and it’s not as creative as Negative Space. In a different year, the typical Pixar polish may well have seemed more impressive, but when the field is as strong as 2018’s, Lou doesn’t stand out in the slightest. Judging by Pixar’s past performance however, it still has a big chance of winning.

Revolting Rhymes

Originally broadcast on the BBC on Boxing Day 2016, Revolting Rhymes is an animated adaptation of Roald Dahl‘s beloved 1982 poetry book. Two of its three directors are previous nominees in this category; Jakob Schuh for The Gruffalo, and Jan Lachauer for Room On The Broom.

Revolting Rhymes merges the stories of three famous fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White And The Seven Dwarves, and The Three Little Pigs) in surprising and clever new ways. Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White are childhood friends, the Seven Dwarves are former jockeys, and the magic mirror has a bad French accent and a pencil moustache; each twist on the tales-as-old-as-time is delightful.

The delight here is enhanced by a cast full of British greats; Dominic West, Rob Brydon, Tamsin Greig and David Walliams. Their voice work, combined with some amusingly expressive animation, and of course, Dahl‘s peerless writing, means that aside from being just the longest of the nominees, Revolting Rhymes is also one of the very best.

Garden Party

Whilst the rest of this years’ nominees all have established talent behind them, Garden Party is the debut short from the Illogic Collective; in fact, it was their graduation film from MoPA, a computer graphics animation school in France. Even if it wasn’t a first film, Garden Party would still be mightily impressive.

We follow a group of frogs and toads as they make their way around a mysteriously deserted mansion. The grounds were clearly set out for a party (the frogs enjoy consuming mouldy macaroons and stale cake), yet there are no humans in sight. As they make their way through the grounds, a shattered CCTV camera and bullet-hole ridden windows give some clues as to what has happened. It isn’t until the grisly final scene, however, that we find out for sure.

The animation in Garden Party is photo real and stunningly rendered; there’s an extraordinary vividness to images like the moonlight filtered through a broken glass window, and a palatial bedroom seen from on high. The realism in the imagery also makes that gory final scene all the more gruesome.

The beauty of the animation would have been enough to make Garden Party a worthy Oscar winner, but then to have the mystery aspect too, that slow-building sense of dread as the film approaches the inexorable conclusion, is why this a truly special work. Of all the nominees this year, Garden Party is the one that will stick with you.

Have you seen this year’s Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts? Which is your favourite?