The law of averages tells us there must be years in which cheerful, silly efforts are nominated in the best documentary short film category. This is not one of those years. Released to theaters in anticipation of the February 22 Academy Awards ceremony, these five shorts—screening in two programs—serve up serious issues and personal essays. Whatever their subject matter, the category is critical for getting attention focused on short films that would otherwise struggle to find a venue for exhibition.
The nominees are longish, as short films go, with the briefest clocking in at 20 minutes. That’s White Earth, one of two U.S. films in the group. It cries out for a longer treatment, because it’s an American story that has developed so quickly it hasn’t gotten the notice (or concern) it deserves: the North Dakota oil boom created by fracking. Director J. Christian Jensen introduces us to children whose parents are chasing work in the oil fields, although these families are still living in trailers. The movie’s just a prelude, but in its central narrator we have a plain-spoken kid who could audition for the next Terrence Malick voiceover role.
Two films from Poland are especially tough to watch. Aneta Kopacz’s Joanna is a beautifully crafted portrait of a young mother dying of cancer, with special attention given to her bond with her bright, articulate son Johnny. Less polished is Our Curse, in which filmmaker Tomasz Sliwinski and his wife Magda document their life with an infant son born with Ondine’s curse, a rare disorder that requires mechanical ventilation during sleep. The unblinking portrait of a child in pain is close to being unbearable to watch.
Perhaps the most artful film of the bunch is The Reaper, a Mexican meditation on the life of a slaughterhouse worker whose job is killing hundreds of cows a day. Director Gabriel Serra focuses his razor-sharp camera on the interiors of the workplace and finds haunting images, from the grimy machinery to the eyes of the doomed cattle. Much more utilitarian in style is Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 (directed by Ellen Goosenberg Kent, already available on HBOGo), a look inside the Veterans Crisis Line facility where responders handle desperate phone calls from (sometimes suicidal) veterans. Its 40 minutes pass breathlessly, as we move from one tense case to the next. The film’s success stories are overshadowed by its statistics about how many vets commit suicide every day (22) and the fact that since 2001 more military personnel have died by suicide than in battle. If Oscar voters cast their ballots for subject matter—they usually do—this one seems a likely winner.
film@seattleweekly.com
2015 OSCAR-NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS Opens Fri., Feb. 6 at Sundance Cinemas. Not rated. 81 & 79 minutes.
