And the live action shorts...
- "Helium" The story of a nurse who tells a dying boy the tale of the magical world of Helium that he will be going to when he passes on, this is Oscar-bait in its purest form. It's acted well and the CGI animation of Helium and its balloon-suspended world look great, but everything about it feels calculated to win that little golden statue. I will be pissed if it does.
- "The Voorman Problem" A Douglas-Adamsy tale of psychotherapist Martin Freeman interviewing prisoner Voorman (Tom Hollander), who believes he is God and has the other inmates agreeing with him. The film starts off on a bum note as Freeman meets the prison's despairing governor (Simon Griffiths) - it's not a badly written scene but the difference in acting ability between Freeman and the unknown Griffiths is almost painful. Hollander is brilliant as Voorman, Freeman is excellent as ever and there's a great joke about Belgium (poor, poor Belgium). Even still, the whole thing feels a little too forced and the ending way too obvious.
- "Avant que de Tout Perdre" ["Just Before Losing Everything"] Utterly gripping filmmaking. A film where the plot is best left undescribed, not because of a Shyamalanesque 'twist,' but because so much of its power comes from just following the characters and gaining an understanding of their situation by being with them, not by heavy exposition. Xavier Legrand draws Hitchcock-like suspense and real emotional engagement by playing straight with a narrative that is unnerving precisely because it is so plausible and realistically portrayed. Lea Drucker is exceptional in the lead role and this is a film that makes me genuinely excited to see what its Director does next. This is the one I'm rooting for.
- "Aquel No Ero Yo" ["That Wasn't Me"] An amazingly powerful and emotionally draining mini-epic following the kidnapping of a small group of NGO workers by a bloodthirsty commander and his army of child-soldiers in an African republic at war with itself. Director Esteban Crespo gets excellent performances from all of his cast and drags us in emotionally with incredible speed to a horrifying situation which he portrays without pulling any punches but also without exploitative sensationalism.
- "Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?" ["Do I Have to Do Everything?"] A short, sweet piece of pure comic relief after the emotional gut punch of "Aquel...", here we see a typical middle-class Finnish family rushing to get ready for a wedding they're running late for. The actors are truly endearing and although it's all essentially a set-up for a single punchline, it's a hell of a good joke and paid off with perfect deadpan ridiculousness.
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