2025-03-01 Oscar Shorts
2025-03-01 Oscar Shorts

I don’t remember how many times I’ve watched the nominated shorts (live-action & animated) and most of the time it’s been an incredible treat… There was one year, a couple years ago when all of the animated shorts were pretty forgettable. Fortunately this year was a good one with all of the nominees delivering intriguing stories that spanned the spectrum of emotions from perplexing to hilarious and quite sad. The following video features the previews for the 10 shorts (animated and live action) that I got a chance to view this year. There are also the five documentary shorts that I did not get a chance to view. I’ve provided further information about the shorts that I saw below the preview video. If you want to watch the complete shorts your can go to Shorts.TV. I also read that some are streaming on Amazon Prime. Enjoy.

[Movie viewed on 2025-03-01 at Suncoast Cinemark with Deb].

Best Animated Short:

Beautiful Men by writer/director Nicolas Keppens

A trio of middle age balding bothers visit Istanbul for a hair transplant procedure weekend that goes sideways because the brother who made the reservation only made a single reservation and the treatment center only has that one spot for anyone to get the procedure. The 20-minute film is darkly comedic with a lot of full-frontal male nudity. It’s kind’a sad, but communicates how difficult it can be for some to navigate their less than perfect self-image and where they want to be in life.

In the Shadow of the Cypress by Writer & Directors: Hossein Molayemi & Shirin Sohani

In this 20-minute short Iranian film, a captain suffering from PTSD lives a lonely difficult life with his daughter on the sea shore. Just as the daughter is about to leave her father something happens that distracts her and changes the dynamic between the father and daughter. This film was a bit difficult to understand but after some research I learned that in Persian culture the Cypress Tree represents strength and resilience and in the case of this story, it’s part of the father’s frustration that he hasn’t been able to provide this for his daughter. This is the film that won the 2025 Best Animated Short Oscar. 

Magic Candies by Daisuke Nishio

Dong-Dong plays marbles in the park alone, because no one ever asks him to play with them. He tells himself that he’s okay with that. One day he buys a small bag of colorful candies that reminds him of the marbles that he plays every day. The shop owner tells him to be careful because the candies are “magic.” Alone at home he puts the first candy in his mouth and then hears someone yelling his name. He can’t quite figure out who it might be that’s calling him. Thus his adventure begins. This was a beautiful colorful film with a poignant message about the importance of being open to listen, even to things we think are voiceless. This was my second choice to win Best Animated Short film. 

Wander to Wonder by Nina Gantz

A strange little film about strange little characters who used to be featured in an eighties kids TV series called “Wander to Wonder.” Alas, we see clips from the series played on old VHS tapes and the characters find themselves abandoned in a forgotten work-shed of some kind. Something’s happened to Uncle Gilly, the show’s creator, leaving Mary, Billybud and Fumbleton to fend for themselves and things don’t looks so good for them. This is a very dark look at what might happen in Toy Story if the toys were allowed to age and go a bit nuts in their confinement and abandonment. Thus, we also get a brief flash of more animated penis. Of course. I’m also curious why this was one of the shortest trailers of all of the films. Hmmm.

Yuck! by Loic Espuche

Funny how something we find so gross as little kids becomes something we can’t deny that we really do want to explore. Thus, Little Léo finds himself right in the middle of that transition and the terrifying thing is that when it begins to happen ones lips become all bright pink and shiny and everyone will know. Ugh! This one was so cute. This was my first choice for Best Animated Short Oscar.

Best Live-Action Short:

Anuja by Adam J. Graves

A smart nine-year-old, Anuja, has a chance to attend a local boarding school but she doesn’t want to leave her older sister whom she works with in a sweatshop where they make shoulder bags. This is too big of a burden for a child to have to deal with.

I’m Not a Robot by writer/director Victoria Warmerdam

You know what a pain in the butt it is when you’re just trying to do your work and you have to stop everything and answer the damn Captcha questions before the computer lets you move on? What if the problem was more than just a stupid computer glitch? 

Here’s the whole short. Enjoy (it won the best live-action short Oscar):

The Last Ranger by Cindy Lee

Young Litha carries the carved wooden rhino that her father made for her as she walks along a village path. The local game preserve is horribly understaff in part due to the loss of revenue from the drop in tourists during the pandemic. A ranger drives by Litha and offers to take her to see a real rhino. Litha understands that this is dangerous work because poachers are killing the rhinos and won’t think twice about killing anyone in their way. Chekov’s gun takes over the rest of the film. 

This film is the second “chapter” in an anthology series called “When the World Stopped,” and was my first choice to win the Best Live-Action Short Oscar.  

A Lien by Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz

This one feels like it’s taken right from today’s headlines. Oscar and Victoria, with their daughter in tow, are rushing to get to Oscar’s Green Card interview. Oscar takes their daughter with him up to the floor where the interview is going to take place. Victoria is told to wait in the reception area. She hears a series of names being called to report to the front desk over the loud speaker and thinks she might have heard her husband’s name. There seems to be some commotion in the lobby and she see armed and uniformed ICE officers roaming the building. She knows that something is not right and begins to panic. 

Uncaring, bureaucratic injustice at work is how I’d sum this one up. Just this week an undocumented couple who raised their adult children here, tried to get a green card, been here 35-years, no arrest or criminal records for them or their children, were arrested and deported without any hearings or any form of due-process. They’re not going after criminals. They’re going after low-hanging “fruit,” people in immigration offices trying to do the right thing. It’s just wrong, and heartless and evil. This film was my second choice to win the short live-action Oscar (but I knew, given the current political environment that it wouldn’t win). 

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent by Nebojsa Slijepcevic

In 1993 a train traveling from Belgrade in Serbia to Bar in Montenegro is stop in Štrpci, Bosnia Hercegovina and local militia board the train demanding to see the passengers documentation. A Croat and retired Yugoslav People’s Army officer, Tomo Buzov, intervenes when another passenger confesses to him that he’s traveling with papers and is afraid. Buzov is marched off the train and never heard from again. Would you stand up for a stranger who is at risk of an illegal action? 

And so, this year’s Oscar movie marathon concluded with the Oscar Shorts (live action & animated). Mission accomplished !😎👍

Bonus Video: The following is the 2025 Oscar winning documentary short about a group of Japanese 1st graders competing to play instruments in the end of year celebration: Instruments of a Beating Heart | An Oscar-Nominated Op-Doc

Sources:

Tags: 2025 movies, 2025 Oscar contenders, 2025 Oscar Nominated Shorts, movie review, video Fridays 

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