All movies begin as a bet whether the following minutes onscreen will be worth our time, but sitting down in front of a shorts program seems an even starker gamble.
Each director’s intensity is distilled into only a few moments, and if the brief movie doesn’t click right away, part of the viewing brain immediately shouts, “Next!”
Starz FilmCenter tries to help each year by packaging the best shorts in the most promising way. The Oscar- nominated live and animated short films are alternated in one program, offering both mental gymnastics and comic relief.
The best of this year’s bunch is the surrealist animation of “Ryan,” a 14-minute Canadian homage to a once innovative animator now broken down by alcohol and mental illness. Director Chris Landreth juxtaposes explanations of what Ryan Larkin did to revolutionize the animation of human movement with scenes where he interviews the troubled genius.
In what looks like a Salvation Army basement, Larkin and other former drunks slouch and smoke, wiling away the hours. Each character’s body is animated with jagged pieces missing, and the result is addition by reduction. With a wisp of hair covering enormous holes in his psyche, Larkin is pathetic and intriguing within seconds of looking at him.
Before this admirable heaviness, though, is the goofy fun of “Gopher Broke,” an “Ice Age”-style animation of a hungry rodent’s quest to acquire all the vegetables falling off a turnip truck. Don’t turn away during the rude surprise ending.
The best camerawork is in the noirish live-action brief from New Zealand, “Two Cars, One Night.” Parents stopping at the local watering hole for beers and flirting leave their bored Maori kids in the parking lot. A boy and girl insult each other and then strike up a truce, the neon lights of the honky-tonk gleaming off the old car hoods.
Rounding out the program are a warm rapprochement across a rural Pakistani-Indian border, a spooky mystery in a Spanish diner and scattered other pieces you can discover for yourself.
Shorts are great when they’re good, and when they’re bad, well, they’re short.
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at 303-820-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com.
“Oscar Shorts 2005”
NOT RATED, some disturbing or at least mature themes|1 hour, 40 minutes|SHORT FILMS|Collection of this year’s Oscar-nominated short films in both the animated and live-action categories, mixed into one program. Some with English subtitles|Opens today at Starz FilmCenter.
