Review of the Oscar 2025 short films: What should you win?

If you want your Oscar group to not ignore the three categories of short films: animation, live and documentary action. But what cinefile would do, anyway? The 15 nominees here have already won something, if you think of them as global ambassadors of everything the cinema can do in a time of time. They will compete on the biggest night in Hollywood, but, of course, we have our favorites.

This year's solid animation group is carefully divided, between defrosted children with hope and injured adults trying to face. Among the former, the charming Frenchman of Loïc Espuche “Yuck!” It represents consensual kisses as a county pink and bright on people's lips, which creates an inconvenient problem for any child disliked by adults who kiss but secretly interested in trying it. The veteran Japanese animator Daisuke Nishio's Stop-Motion Fantasy “Magic T -shirts” It gives Lonely Boy Dong-Dong a bag of the title of the title, each briefly, which makes a part of his world less silent, as his own perspective becomes more appreciative and safe. Enough optimistic voters could get any of these statuette films.

But something tells me that our mistreated mood will see a winner in something like the ironist gifted Nicolas Keppens' “Beautiful men” A peculiar story of three Calvayos flamenco brothers visiting Foggy Istanbul for hair transplants. It makes a brilliant use of Stop-Motion's touch intimacy, perhaps the only appropriate style considering the paralyzing insecurities of this trio. Another possibility is “In the shadow of the cypress” Of the co -director Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, who follow the first appearance of last year in this category by an Iranian filmmaker (Yeghane Moghaddam with “our uniform”). His story encoded by colors of a traumatized war veteran, his worried daughter and a stranded whale is evocative and unattimmed.

An isolated nostalgia of satirical restlessness and television Mark Mark Dutch Swimming Curio Dahl-Meets-Adult Swim “Wandering to the wonder” About the small human stars of a cheap children's show, playing survival in his disuse study after the disappearance of its creator. In its gloomy and fun combination of the world's construction through the decay in the world, it memorably claims the term “suspended animation” and is resonant enough to win.

Live action tickets, meanwhile, look at dangerous situations, some started from real life. Parable of the poaching of the South African Cindy Lee of the poaching but effective hunting “The last rangers” He sends a girl in the village with her eyes open with a love for the rhinos to a wildlife reserve, where her encounter with a kind fender leads to a violent revelation about protection and danger. From India (and American producer Mindy Kaling) comes the philosopher converted into Adam J. Graves's Refrecent “Anuja”. He traces the energetic link between the main character, a 9 -year -old girl, and his older sister Palak, intelligent girls who sail for the tense opportunities available to them. Flot and fun, live to the exploratory nature of childhood, also unfortunately yields a dramatic terrain at a curious point.

The Live Action Oscar nominee “The man who could not remain silent” is based on a real story.

(Bermuda)

Weight is not a problem for either “A tax” of the writer and the directors Sam and David Cutler-Kreutz, or the Dutch Victoria Warmerdam's “I'm not a robot.” The first brings Paul Grengrass crepitant energy to the commitment of a young family with the United States bait and change immigration system. The latter, as if I ade had an episode of “black mirror”, takes the technology to capture a mysterious Omega point for a young office worker (magnificently interpreted by Ellen Parren). It is a feminist nightmare for his character, and a dark identity comedy for us.

However, the outstanding and probable winner is the magistically tense bosnian war vignette “The man who could not remain silent” Located in the gloomy complacency of a train compartment. As space is sought by a paramilitary group, the fate of a young Muslim is the spectator fodder for all but one. Although it is a real story, the elimination of historically specific details is part of the power of the film: it feels disturbingly relevant.

In short documentaries, films address legacies of violence or, in the case of “Instruments of a heartbeat” and “The only girl in the orchestra” The sweetest strains promoted by music. The delicious “instruments”, by Ema Ryan Yamazaki, take us within a Tokyo school, where second -degree students form a percussive orchestra, learning about combining their internal nerve rhythms in community performance.

An image of the short documentary “incident”, directed by Bill Morrison.

(Bermuda)

“The only girl,” meanwhile, is Molly O'Brien's love portrait of her innovative aunt, the 89 -year -old bassist Orin O'Brien, the first member of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, selected by the Leonard Bernstein himself. She is modest, charismatically nerd and loved by colleagues and students. It is a superlative biodoc fueled by the effortless effort radiates the moving bonhomie that we want to imagine courses through all those dedicated to a life in art.

Grace also exists in the most severe stories. Kim A. Snyder's “Death by numbers” It focuses on the expressive process of healing by Sam Fuentes, a survivor from Parkland, Florida, who shoots school, as the judgment of his assailant approaches. Texas's Death Slip is where Smriti Mundhra is heavy and sincere “I'm ready, guardian” Find an unusual land shared by a convicted murderer, a renovated local day and the victim's son, torn by unresolved feelings. Powerfully argues that, in some cases, the death penalty only kills a positive change.

But the shortest, more deserving, “Incident,” By the footaje footaje teacher ever nominated (“city of Dawson: Tiempo Frozen”), reveals the limits of responsibility. The film is a real -time assembly of the police chamber of the police and the surveillance videos of a fatal shooting of a black pedestrian and the chaotic consequences of a Chicago officer. From the synchronized images of the divided screen, we absorb the unbearable minutes in which the body of Barith Harith Augustus is unattended, while we get aware of the elaboration of justification of the closed ranks of a justification. On the other side of the yellow police tape, a meeting choir of a besieged community shouts the truth as a comment track that knows that it will never be heard.

The last contract of the Chicago Police Union revoked the public use of their body images. “Incident” discovers exalally why.