Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

Can I just say how much Magnolia Pictures kicks ass for doing this, as they've done for the last couple of years? Mere weeks after the Academy Award nominations are announced, they compile the five nominees in both the Animated Short Films (total running time: 90 minutes) and the Live Action Short Films (137 minutes) categories as two separate programs for you to enjoy and help make your party or office Oscar pool that much more enjoyable. Imagine the thrill of making your predictions after actually having seen the nominees. That puts you several steps ahead of most Academy voters. The two programs are opening today in Chicago and other cities, and I'm going to have to insist that you do your homework and check out these rarely screened gems.

I think my favorite in the Animated program is the UK/Poland stop-motion co-production Peter & the Wolf, a slightly updated version of the classic story set to Prokofiev's music (the film is otherwise silent). One of the most interesting and original is I Met the Walrus, which uses an audio recording of 14-year-old Jerry Levitan interviewing John Lennon sometime in the 1970s. It's 100 percent authentic; the kid somehow snuck into Lennon's hotel room and convinced him to do the interview. What we see is an intricate and trippy interpretation of Lennon's words. Most disturbing of the bunch is Canada's Madame Tutli-Putli, a Gothic tale about a sad, lonely woman on a train who is assaulted by strange and awful visions. I'm not sure I understood it, but it made me uneasy, and that's good enough for me. Russia's My Love is quite different than the other four. The look is that of an oil painting brought to life; you can actually see the brushstrokes at times. It's a fluid and lovely looking period piece about a young man in love with two very different women. Somehow, the weirdest animated short also manages to be the least interesting. France's Even Pigeons Go To Heaven (Meme les pigeons vont au paradis) is an odd tale about a corrupt priest who attempts to sell an elderly man a machine that guarantees him a trip to heaven. Although there's a great twist ending that goes a long way toward redeeming this otherwise slight work.

On the live action side of things, at least three of these films I could have easily watched as feature-length movies. The best of the bunch in terms of acting and story is the emotional punch from Denmark, At Night, about three women in the cancer ward of a hospital who become friends with much hesitation. In the past, I've spoken with overflowing enthusiasm about Danish cinema, and this short exemplifies what I have loved about it over the years. It defies the conventions of standard dramatic storytelling. This is one of the most original takes on the "disease movie" genre that I've ever seen, and it's only 40 minutes long. I also liked the UK entry The Tonto Woman, which is actually set in the old American West, and involves the relationship between a charming cattle thief and a woman living alone in the desert after being held captive by Mojave Indians for 11 years and carrying their brand on her chin. This is a wonderfully authentic piece that draws you in because you have no clue where it's headed. France's The Mozart of Pickpockets is a humorous work about a pair of common criminals who meet a young deaf boy and see their luck with thievery change for the better almost immediately. The shortest two entries are the utterly obnoxious Italian effort The Substitute about a verbally abusive substitute teacher, and the Belgium-made movie Tanghi Argentini, concerning a man who wants to learn the tango to impress a woman he meets online. This one sneaks a clever ending in just as you begin to think this is a fairly conventional story, and it's the film's saving grace.

Having been on the jury for the Short Films competition for three (nonconsecutive) years for the Chicago Film Festival, I have a great affinity for all shorts. You almost never get a chance to see them, and even when you do (say, at a film festival), most people don't make the time for them. But seeing the ones in competition for this city's festival and the films nominated for the 2007 Academy Awards, I can say without doubt that the selection process for the Oscars is about as random as it gets. I could easily substitute four to six better films I judged last year in place of a couple of the selections in each Oscar category. And I say that taking nothing away from these largely enjoyable nominated works. If I had one big complaint about the two programs in general, it would be that I also want to see the four nominated films for Best Documentary Short. Ah well, that's just me being greedy. As I said in the beginning, this is required viewing as far as I'm concerned. If these programs land in your town, do your duty as citizen moviegoers of America and check them out.

Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com