It's a particular challenge to achieve serious emotional impact on a smaller canvas, but the 2024 Oscar-nominated live-action shorts tackle the biggest dramatic themes, all of them revolving around questions of life and death.
'Knight of Fortune'
In the drily unsentimental directorial debut of Danish filmmaker Lasse Lyskjær Noer, a chance encounter between two disconsolate men in a morgue leads to a series of comedic and emotional developments.
Aiming to create a nuanced depiction of grief, balancing the sterility of death with the warmth of human connection, Noer found himself writing something humorous. “Laughter is a universal language,” she says. “It brings us closer and is like a valve that relieves the pain. The challenge is not to pierce the gravity of the story with humor. I think what makes us laugh in 'Gentleman Fortune' is the incongruity. … You expect something, but then something else happens.”
Noer was inspired to make “Knight of Fortune” after experiencing loss in his own life. “With this film, I wanted to remind us of the importance of being there for each other in life's darkest moments,” she says. “That's why it was important to me to make a film that embraced the darkness of pain but also the warmth, love, and sometimes the humor in between.”
The Oscar-nominated live-action short film “Invincible” chronicles the last 48 hours of the life of Marc-Antoine Bernier, a 14-year-old boy in a desperate search for freedom.
(TVShorts)
'Invincible'
Addressing the complexities of adolescence and mental health, Canadian director Vincent René-Lortie's film follows the final days of a 14-year-old boy's life. Told with rigor and empathy, it was inspired by the true story of the director's childhood friend.
According to René-Lortie, staying true to the psychological complexity of the story posed a particular kind of narrative challenge. “Unlike the typical obstacles seen in movies, mental health problems are internal,” he says. “My goal was to depict someone dealing with internal turmoil, facing battles both within themselves and against a society they are not equipped to understand. In fact, conveying such complexity within the limitations of a short film format is daunting.”
“Making this film was my way of reconnecting with him, trying to understand his journey and the reasons behind his tragic end,” says René-Lortie. “The main goal has always been to unravel the events that led to his death, so I chose to focus the film on the 48 hours that preceded that crucial moment. The film does not focus solely on the specific incident of his death; delves into the 'why' behind this tragedy, exploring the layers of nuance that accompanied it.”
“Red, White and Blue” addresses the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Starring Brittany Snow as a young mother who must cross state lines to get an abortion after an unexpected pregnancy, the film felt “urgent and necessary” to dramatize the human costs of that decision, says director Nazrin Choudhury.
(TVShorts)
'Red white and blue'
One of the first major films to confront the post-Roe legal environment, Nazrin Choudhury's “Red, White and Blue” follows Rachel (Brittany Snow), a cash-strapped single mother who travels from Arkansas to Illinois (with her little girl daughter in tow). ) looking for an abortion.
“I don't think any of us can escape the realities of the landscape we live in following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022,” Choudhury says, adding that it felt “urgent and necessary” to dramatize the human costs of that decision. “The reversal of a landmark ruling that sought to protect reproductive rights and bodily autonomy for nearly 50 years demonstrated that we should never again assume or take for granted that those basic human rights will always be available to us.”
But rather than foregrounding an explicitly political struggle, “Red, White and Blue” takes shape as a road trip story, full of detours and discoveries, with two characters in search of a very specific kind of freedom.
“While our story delves into a real crisis for millions of Americans,” Choudhury says, “it was important to me to show the full depth and breadth of the human experience. Joy and sadness are not mutually exclusive and that duality can, in fact, coexist. The tone of this film was ultimately balanced by the underlying thematic idea of what it really means to be a father and, as such, it is unreservedly a celebration of motherhood.”
David Oyelowo stars in “The After,” about a man who has to reconnect with himself and society after witnessing a devastating random attack.
(TVShorts)
'The after'
In the opening minutes of photographer Misan Harriman's directorial debut, a London businessman (David Oyelowo) witnesses a violent crime that upends his seemingly comfortable life. When “The After” reintroduces him after a narrative break, he is a calm, grieving rideshare driver; As he encounters different groups of passengers, he struggles with the decision to take the initial small steps to confront his buried trauma.
“It was important to me not to have a traditional happy ending,” Harriman says, “but I wanted to make sure there was hope, humanity, and a sense of self-love in this story. For many people who are struggling, it's not so much that they need you to look at them and tell them, “Everything is going to be okay,” but rather that they believe that they are important as they always have been, and I hope that feeling of healing is in this movie”.
Benedict Cumberbatch stars in Wes Anderson's “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”
(TVShorts)
'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar'
Although his feature film “Asteroid City” did not make the cut at this year's Oscars, Wes Anderson makes his debut in the short film category with “Henry Sugar”, the jewel of a series of Roald Dahl adaptations that the author made for Netflix.
With an all-star cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley and Richard Oyoade, it's a whimsical and obsessively designed miniature epic with a Russian doll structure. In the standout nested story, Cumberbatch takes on the role of the titular playboy, who develops a supernatural ability to see through objects. Our protagonist attempts to use the skill to cheat at the game, before discovering more ambitious uses for his talent.
“I certainly had the feeling that this could be very boring,” Anderson told The Envelope last year. “But I didn't obsess over whether it would work. “I knew the key was finding the right actors, because a particular set of muscles are used here.”
