I watched several of the Oscar nominated shorts, the ones I could find for free or on streaming sites I’m already on.
* I’m taking a break from Netflix, so I didn’t see the short film starring David Oyelowo called The After, that got nominated as well.
1. Nai Nai and Wai Po - documentary directed by Sean Wang (on Hulu): a sweet documentary about his Taiwanese grandmas who live together like sisters, are in their 80s and 90s, and are cute and funny, keeping active to stave off any injuries if they fall, and know the end of their lives is near and being mentally prepared for it. This was produced by Disney, and nice to watch.
2. The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar - live action directed by Wes Anderson (on Netflix): Wes Anderson made about four-five short film adaptations of Roald Dahl stories, and this one, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and Ben Kingsley, was really good to watch, where the characters narrated the story, including the actions, and turn to talk to the audience a lot, like they’re in a play. Dev Patel was really good as well.
3. Ninety-Five Senses - animated directed by Jerusha and Jared Hess (on Documentary Plus for free): Narrated by Tim Blake Nelson, it’s the story of an old man meditating on his five senses as his life is coming to an end, to be executed for murder. I liked Nelson’s narration, and the animation was nice, but I wasn’t too interested in the character or his story. His murder story was him trying to get petty revenge and accidentally killing people, and I couldn’t feel sorry for him.
4. The Barber of Little Rock - documentary directed by John Hoffman and Christine Turner (on the New Yorker website): a really good documentary on economic inequality with poor Black citizens in Little Rock, Arkansas, and a Black-owned loan program that gives emergency loan grants to people and helps them start their businesses, pay their rent while they find a new place to live, and find jobs and get coverage for their medical expenses. The film follows Arlo Washington, a young man who started the loan program and a barbershop school to train people and provide job opportunities. It talks about Black people wanting to build wealth and own houses and have a stake that is theirs, and to close the racial wealth gap.
5. The Last Repair Shop - documentary directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Powers (on Hulu): a really good documentary on an L.A. warehouse where craftspeople and technicians work on repairing musical instruments that children use in school, and the movie features interesting backstories of the technicians, like immigrants escaping war and hardship to find a place in the U.S., finding job opportunities with the instruments and skills in repairing them, and clips of the kids talking about what the music means to them. It was interesting and really nice to watch.
6. Island in Between - documentary directed by S. Leo Chiang (on the New York Times website): This was about Chiang’s experiences growing up on the Taiwanese islands of Kimmen, just a few miles from mainland China, and reflecting on his relationships with Taiwan, China, and the United States, comparing it to a three-way parental relationship. I thought it was okay, and interesting to learn more about Taiwanese people talking about Chinese colonialism and seeing their planes fly over them, and the ferry to China being closed, and other issues. I wasn’t as into it as some of the other films, but it was decent.
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