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Yoshida:My God, what a gruesome bunch in this category!
The collective experience of watching them altogether is alot.
I hate to say it, but it all starts to feel a bit cheap after a while.
No one could fathom the crime.
No one wanted to fathom the crime even to go there would be too horrible.
The film covers the separate interrogation of each boy, with brief flashbacks.
The syntax is fractured, with purposeful elisions i.e., violence against the child.
I dont think Lambe gets to the bottom of the mystery.
I dont think he tried.
But he gets at a lot of interesting stuffaroundthe atrocious crime in a way I respect.
Yoshida:Detainmentis rough.
Edelstein:The next dead-kid film I watched wasFauve, by Jeremy Comte.
Its evocative, and not just for the options.
It captures the mix of adventurousness and sadism that characterizes the play of some adolescent boys.
you might see the tragedy coming a mile away.
What I loved was the surviving boys sense of helplessness.
This was probably my favorite of the shorts, although Im not sure how the Academy will go.
Yoshida:I was more or less with this one until the ending.
Edelstein:Motherby Rodrigo Sorogoyen is a tour de force.
Its also ghastly and hateful.
Its every parents nightmare, but done in a way I found cheap and easy.
Ill say that again: Yecchh.
Yoshida:These first three shorts all have the same structure, which is a unidirectional nosedive toward hell.
Oddly, it was the dubstep that made me question the films motivation more than anything else.
Watching him process what he sees of that culture is fascinating.
And no matter how despicable that dad, hes trying to be agooddad.
The revenge by a black gang is poetic but absurd.
No one will feel much sympathy for the man, but no one will buy the outcome.
Yoshida:Skinhead dads love their white kids, would you believe it?
The revenge by the black gang got a genuine Wow, really?
Edelstein:The final film is, in context, almost cheerful:Margueriteby Marianne Farley.
Lovely, moving stuff, though a bit generic.
Possibly the Academys choice, I dont know.
Its politically sound and with no dead kids.
Yoshida:A sweet and rather corny thing that will probably win the Oscar?
I also have nothing else to say aboutMarguerite, which is a very nice movie about nice people.
Edelstein:I agree.
There are many different kinds of documentaries, but for the Academy the form is synonymous with journalism.
More elusive, imagistic works dont tend to make the final cut.
Walker addresses the camera directly, and hes a stirring narrator, even though the film just kind ofends.
Edelstein:I foundBlack Sheepdifficult to watch.
theres suddenly a little kid there yelling, Ay, ner.
Maybe you want it to be a longer film because it feels halfway to fiction.
I wanted to hear Corneliuss words and look at his face not the faces and words of actors.
What exactly was the German American Bund, the pro-Nazi organization that held the rally?
What did the rest of New York City make of it?
But I agree that its odd that the film is an Oscar finalist.
It feels more like footage assembled (very well) to get funding for a larger doc feature.
End of Sentenceis my bet to win the category and not just because of its feel-good story.
Manufacturing those pads is truly liberating.
Edelstein:I loved the film.
I was overwhelmed by it.
Skye Fitzgerald is on the rocking sea with them to the point where I found myself getting sympathetically seasick.
Which is not a bad thing at all!
But good propaganda is still propaganda.
Again not the worst thing to promote!
Its just a different kind of experience watching it.
This would be my other pick to win the Oscar, what do you think?
Edelstein:Ive seen many end-of-life films not dissimilar fromEnd Gameand imagine that Academy voters have, too.
Not only a winner a classic.
Lets quickly consider the other four.
It gets tedious after about three minutes.
Not terrible, but it definitely outstayed its welcome.
Edelstein:Domee ShisBao a Pixar production Id seen in theaters and have little to say about.
I like bad skin when its indicative of a deeper vision, as in the works of David Lynch.
Domee Shi is no David Lynch.
I think the blend of form and content is exquisite here and maybe even psychologically plausible.
Really a fine piece of work.
Yoshida:Late Afternoonsneaked up on me!
Its a good self-pitying dad story yoked to a female-empowerment tale.
Edelstein:Now:Weekendsby Trevor Jimenez.
Its a flat-out marvel.
It also has and needs no words.
Jimenez characterizes these people by the shapes of their heads and bodies and the movements of their features.
(He becomes abusive once he makes himself at home.)
I could watch this film over and over.
This should win the Oscar, but I worry it might be too weird for voters.
