#Lachlan Pendragon

[moviemosaics]

An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It

directed by Lachlan Pendragon, 2021

[dweemeister]

Best Animated Short Film Nominees for the 95th Academy Awards (2023, listed in order of appearance in the shorts package)

This blog, since 2013, has been the site of my write-ups to the Oscar-nominated short film packages – a personal tradition for myself and for this blog. This omnibus write-up goes with my thanks to the Regency South Coast Village in Santa Ana, California for providing all three Oscar-nominated short film packages. Without further ado, here are the nominees for the Best Animated Short Film at this year’s Academy Awards. The write-ups for the Documentary Short and Live Action Short nominees are complete. Films predominantly in a language other than English (or in two cases here, with dialogue) are listed with their nation(s) of origin.

So completes this year’s omnibus write-ups for the Oscar-nominated short films.

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It (2021)

In 1953, director Chuck Jones tortured Daffy Duck with the whims of an unseen animator (revealed to be Bugs Bunny) in Duck Amuck. Fast forward almost seventy years and a film of a similar concept comes in Lachlan Pendragon’s An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It. Pendragon, who directed, wrote, animated, and voiced the main character this film as an undergraduate student at the Griffith Film School in Brisbane (where he is now a PhD candidate), frames hapless toaster telemarketing salesman Neil as under fire from his boss (Michael Richard) due to a lack of sales. As the workday continues, he begins to notice peculiar aspects of his fellow coworkers and the office that make him question what is going on. Accidentally sleeping at work through the night, he encounters an ostrich (John Cavanagh) in the elevator who then claims the world Neil lives in is, “a lie”. What follows is a meta-breaking, existential short film deriving its comedy from the character’s realization of the stop-motion artifice of his life.

A winner of the Student Academy Award from last year and a nominee for Best Graduation Film at Annecy (the premier animation-only film festival), Ostrich uses what I am assuming is Pendragon’s hand in place of Bugs Bunny’s glove and paintbrush. Shot entirely during the COVID-19 lockdown at home in the living room, this is a one-man animation job. For most of its ten-minute runtime, the viewers see the film through an in-film camera monitor – allowing us into Pendragon’s workspace. Meanwhile, in the background that comprises the margins of the frame, we witness the rigging, wiring, and animation handiwork that is occurring at twenty-four frames per second.  The impressive character design and the clearly-delineated pop-off faces and jaws provide a remarkable assist to Ostrich’s comic timing and Neil’s acting (which Pendragon admits that Neil’s reactions take inspiration his own behavioral habits). The film’s metaphor is perhaps not as well developed, but one can make the argument that Ostrich is a blistering take on this stifling office environment and champions an exploration and investigation of all possibilities in one’s earthly life and in existence. One imagines we will see more from Pendragon, who is at the very beginning of his career and wishes to make a feature someday.

My rating: 8/10

The Flying Sailor (2022, Canada)

Making its debut last year at Annecy and from National Film Board of Canada (NFB; who, as a studio, are the second-most nominated ever in this category behind Walt Disney Animation), Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis’ The Flying Sailor is an experimental take of the story of Charlie Mayers. On December 6, 1917, a French cargo ship and a Norwegian merchant vessel collided in a strait called the Narrows, just off Halifax, Nova Scotia. A fire began on the former ship, which carried with it high explosives. The resulting explosion was the most violent peacetime accidental explosion ever on Earth – killing more than 1,700 and wounding around 9,000 in the immediate area and from the shockwaves. Mayers was actually onboard the deck of one of the ships, but Tilby and Forbis move him to the docks, watching on as an inquisitive spectator instead. As in real life, the blast is enough to quickly tear off all his clothes, and he spirals skyward. It is here that Tilby and Forbis send Mayers flying in slow-motion, almost balletically spinning as the film delves into his unconsciousness.

His life flashing before his eyes, we see hazy glimpses of the sailor’s memories – his childhood self at play, his mother, the rough-and-tumble life of being a sailor. Along with My Year of Dicks, The Flying Sailor is one of the first films in this category to make use of mixed media since Mémorable (2019, France). It opens with juxtaposing our hand-drawn sailor with the ships – as if in the style of the opening of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood – hurtling towards each other. But once the explosion occurs, the film, too, explodes with a clash of styles. Showcasing hand-drawn, computer-generated, and live action footage, Tilby and Forbis’ choices are reflective of the instant disorientation following the blast. The film’s penultimate moments are an orchestral cacophony from composer Luigi Allemano as the sailor returns to our earthly existence. This is perhaps the only film of these five that absolutely needed to be a short film. It presents its direction, completes its business, and concludes.

My rating: 8/10

Ice Merchants (2022, Portugal)

By earning Portugal its first-ever Academy Award nomination, João Gonzalez’s Ice Merchants – a production of the Cola Animation collective – already has a place in Oscars history. In his third film as a director following The Voyager (2017) and Nestor (2019), Gonzalez transports audiences to an impossible, dreamlike place and imbues his film with a metaphor of loss and how family routines can be an extension of grief. In a cliffside house suspended by hooks and ropes live a father and his son. Living thousands of feet above the town below, they jump off their porch daily, parachuting to safety in order to sell the ice. They return home after selling their wares and purchasing whatever they need in town by using a pulley system that probably takes ages to ascend and descend. In the rarified, chilly air, father and son go about their lives peacefully, continuing their lives amid the shadow of loss.

Garnering award wins at Cannes, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Annies, Ice Merchants is among the most-awarded short films ever prior to an Oscar nomination. According to Gonzalez, the idea of the cliffside house came as he was dreaming or was about to fall asleep – a development that has, thus far, fully informed the visual conceits of his entire filmography. Prior to starting the formal animation for Ice Merchants, Gonzalez himself modeled the entire house (including the swing, interiors, and pulley system) 3D and started composing the score (Gonzalez is a pianist, but required his friend, conductor/orchestrator Nuno Lobo, to transpose for various instruments). Unusual in that the film’s narrative and themes spring from the score rather than the other way around, Ice Merchants adopts an everyday melancholy reflected in its strikingly limited color palette. Those colors include shades of red, orange, a dark blue or green for backgrounds only, and two brief but noteworthy instances of yellow. All these decisions – visually, musically, narratively – combine in a breathtaking conclusion that unleashes a wave of emotions. That mastery of cinematic control leads me to write something longtime readers know I do not say lightly. Ice Merchants is the best nominee in this category since Bear Story (2014, Chile) and World of Tomorrow (2015) were nominated together seven years ago. By extension, it is one of the finest animated short films of the young century.

My rating: 9/10

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022)

Adapting Charlie Mackesy’s 2019 picture book of the same name, Peter Baynton and Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse made an enormous splash when it aired on BBC One on Christmas Eve as part of the BBC’s annual slate of Christmas specials. It qualified for an Academy Award nomination by virtue of a nominal one-week theatrical release in Los Angeles County on September 23, 2022. Here, the Boy (Jude Coward Nicoll) has lost his way in a wintry forest when he encounters Mole (Tom Hollander). Mole is a cheerful, friendly sort that enjoys a good cake. But the Boy believes himself to be lost, is searching for a home, and wishes to be a kind person. Along their travels they encounter starving Fox (Idris Elba) and the lonely Horse (Gabriel Byrne). For the duration of this movie, the Boy and his animal friends speak to each other in platitudes of positivity, reassurance, and perseverance for what is most likely chronic depression or seasonal affective disorder.

The Boy might just be the most beautifully drawn of this year’s nominees. Its painterly watercolor backgrounds seem as lifted from a picture book; the residual sketches on each of the characters are a beautiful expressionistic touch (I especially like the ends of the Boy’s hair and Fox’s tale, as well as the curvatures to denote Horse’s leg musculature). My sense of visual wonder lasted all but five or so minutes. Because once the Boy has a few conversations with Mole, the film’s thirty-seven minutes seem all the more interminable. The film’s dialogue – and my goodness, no one speaks like this in real life – is trite, straight from the crowd that might have a “live, laugh, love” embroidery unironically hanging on their wall. Each character appears as if they are trying to one-up the other in their AI-generated speech*, as if each Very Important Line of Dialogue is attempting to be the penultimate or final line in a children’s picture book. I understand how this might be impactful for those with major cases of depression and seasonal affective disorder, but the film’s messaging and horrific script is sheer overkill.

My rating: 6/10

My Year of Dicks (2022)

A winner at Annecy, Chicago International Film Festival, and SXSW, Sara Gunnarsdóttir’s My Year of Dicks adapts Pamela Ribon’s comedic memoir Notes to Boys: And Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public (Ribon is the sole screenwriter on this film). This is not about people named Richard. It is 1991 in Houston. In the first of five chapters, we find Pam (Brie Tilton) – a fifteen-year-old who wants desperately to lose her virginity sometimes this year – narrating a diary entry/letter to her first boy, David (Sterling Temple Howard, “Skater Dude” from 2020’s Two Distant Strangers). David is a skater boy who has filed his nails into sharp points and his teeth in a similar way. As one can imagine, this romance does not work out and Pam cycles through the next four chapters awash in heterosexual hijinks (some readers will interpret the use of “heterosexual” here as a pejorative, but I say it as only an observation) with Wally (Mical Trejo), Robert (Sean Stack), best friend Sam (Jackson Kelly), and Joey (Chris Elsenbroek).

Alternatively hilarious and excruciating (see: the scene where Pam’s father gives her The Talk) to watch, one-half of the film’s genius lies in Ribon’s adapted screenplay of her memoir. Ribon (a co-screenwriter on 2016’s Moana and 2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet), who saved all of the letters she wrote to all her crushes when she was a teenager, adapts that writing to form an honest, secondhand embarrassing story. The central ideas play like a grown-up Helga Pataki from Hey Arnold!, sans used gum bust of her beloved. My Year of Dicks’ resolution is genuine, as is a non-judgmental depiction of teenage female sexuality‡. In a roundabout way, it is a deconstruction of the idea that the only way for girls to achieve full womanhood is through sex and sexual appeal. And like The Flying Sailor, My Year of Dicks employs a litany of styles of mixed media that help it succeed. Though its rough rotoscoping (a time-tested technique in which animators trace over live-action footage) is the dominant style, there are some fascinating breaks here: most interestingly, a scene involving a metaphoric angel and devil over Pam’s shoulders and interludes of shôjo anime (which probably was not on the radar of Houston teenagers in 1991). A sidesplittingly funny film, My Year of Dicks nevertheless retains a sliver of nostalgic poignancy to keep it grounded.

My rating: 8/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

From previous years: 85th Academy Awards (2013), 87th (2015), 88th (2016), 89th (2017), 90th (2018), 91st (2019), 92nd (2020), 93rd (2021), and 94th (2022).

* This begs a question. Should programmers of AI chatbots receive credit for their work when, inevitably, we have a film written by one?

‡ This line of thinking was certainly more prominent in the 1980s-2000s than it has been over the last decade, as teenage sex in the U.S. is down considerably from those times (the reasons are many).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[animatedshortoftheday]

The Toll (2017) [5 min] by Lachlan Pendragon | Australia

https://vimeo.com/221405321

[randomrichards]

AN OSTRICH TOLD ME THE WORLD WAS FAKE AND I THINK I BELIEVE IT:

A toaster salesman

Sees the hand that controls him

Meta stop motion

[bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews]

The Oscars "Best Animated Short" Nominees, 2023.

#onemannsmovies review of the Oscar "Best Animated Short" film nominees for 2023.

A One Mann’s Movies review of the nominations for the Oscars in the “Best Animated Short” Category. I’ve not done separate reviews for these Oscar “Best Animated Short” nominees but am including brief reviews for them in this one post. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (2022). Bob the Movie Man Rating(s): Plot Summary: A lost boy is helped with guidance and advice from the animals he…

[ogradyfilm]

Recently Viewed: An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It

[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!]

In An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It—Lachlan Pendragon’s Oscar-nominated animated short—the fourth wall is a fragile construct. Much of the action is glimpsed through a monitor mounted to the camera recording it, with the hands of the artist visibly manipulating the puppets in the background, just barely out of focus. Once the protagonist—a mild-mannered telemarketer—realizes that the world he inhabits is a total fabrication, the seams holding it together gradually begin to unravel. Peering beyond the border of the frame, for example, reveals details (or, more appropriately, the lack thereof) that would otherwise be invisible: the words printed in an employee manual, an entire desktop computer, and his coworkers’ legs dematerialize the instant they exit the viewer’s direct line of sight. Haunted by this nightmarish new reality, he attempts to escape through a door to nowhere—only to plummet into a tray containing multiple reproductions of his own detachable lower jaw.

Featuring a cheekily self-referential tone that perfectly complements its central character’s self-awareness, An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake is a subversive masterpiece, transforming the very medium of stop-motion into a compelling metaphor for the suffocating existential horror of existing in a society befouled by commercialism, consumerism, and materialism. After all, despite his apparent deific status, the Filmmaker—much like his creations of felt and wire armature—is subject to the whims of forces beyond his comprehension, squandering his craft to produce advertisements for furniture and office supplies. He may sculpt the universe, but the Almighty Dollar reigns supreme, pulling his strings with the promise of a paycheck… and the threat of poverty.

This overarching theme would be intolerably cynical and nihilistic… were the movie surrounding it not so charming, innovative, and effortlessly hilarious. An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It blows its fellow competitors out of the water; I'll be rooting for it to take home the golden statuette on March 12.

[cyarsk52-20]

Here Are All the Winners From the 2023 Oscars: Complete List

The 95th annual Academy Awards are hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

The 95th Academy Awards take place on Sunday (March 12) at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and air live on ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel returning as Oscars host for the third time. 

Related 

Jimmy Kimmel Jokes About Nick Cannon’s Kids, the Will Smith Slap in 2023 Oscars… 

03/12/2023

Everything Everywhere All At Once, which earned 11 nods, is the most-nominated film this year. One of those 11 nominations is for best original song (David Byrne, Ryan Lott and Mitski’s “This Is A Life”). They’re competing against Lady Gaga and BloodPop for “Hold My Hand” (Top Gun: Maverick), Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson for “Lift Me Up (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Diane Warren for “Applause” (Tell It Like a Woman) and M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose for “Naatu Naatu” (RRR). This is Warren’s 14th nomination, with no wins so far. Gaga previously won this category for co-writing “Shallow” from A Star Is Born. 

Baz Luhrmann’s biopic on 20thcentury icon Elvis Presley, Elvis, was nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture; it also earned a best actor nomination for Austin Butler, who portrayed the King of Rock & Roll.

Check out the complete winners list below, updating live throughout the show. 

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Angela Bassett in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Hong Chau in “The Whale” Kerry Condon in “The Banshees of Inisherin” Jamie Lee Curtis in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER Stephanie Hsu in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Costume Design

“Babylon” Mary Zophres “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Ruth Carter — WINNER “Elvis” Catherine Martin “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Shirley Kurata “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” Jenny Beavan

Best Sound

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte “Avatar: The Way of Water” Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges “The Batman” Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson “Elvis” David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller “Top Gun: Maverick” Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor — WINNER

Best Original Score

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Volker Bertelmann — WINNER “Babylon” Justin Hurwitz “The Banshees of Inisherin” Carter Burwell “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Son Lux “The Fabelmans” John Williams

Best Adapted Screenplay

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” Written by Rian Johnson “Living” Written by Kazuo Ishiguro “Top Gun: Maverick” Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks “Women Talking” Screenplay by Sarah Polley — WINNER

Best Original Screenplay

“The Banshees of Inisherin” Written by Martin McDonagh “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert — WINNER “The Fabelmans” Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner “Tár” Written by Todd Field “Triangle of Sadness” Written by Ruben Östlund

Best Live-Action Short Film

“An Irish Goodbye” Tom Berkeley and Ross White — WINNER “Ivalu” Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan “Le Pupille” Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón “Night Ride” Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen “The Red Suitcase” Cyrus Neshvad

Best Animated Short Film

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud — WINNER “The Flying Sailor” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby “Ice Merchants” João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano “My Year of Dicks” Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon “An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It” Lachlan Pendragon

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Brendan Gleeson in “The Banshees of Inisherin” Brian Tyree Henry in “Causeway” Judd Hirsch in “The Fabelmans” Barry Keoghan in “The Banshees of Inisherin” Ke Huy Quan in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER

Best Animated Film

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley — WINNER “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” Joel Crawford and Mark Swift “The Sea Beast” Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger “Turning Red” Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins

Best Original Song

“Applause” from “Tell It like a Woman”; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”; Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”; Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR”; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose — WINNER “This Is A Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”; Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne

Best International Feature Film

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Germany — WINNER “Argentina, 1985” Argentina “Close” Belgium “EO” Poland “The Quiet Girl” Ireland

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová “The Batman” Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Camille Friend and Joel Harlow “Elvis” Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti “The Whale” Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley — WINNER

Best Production Design

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper — WINNER “Avatar: The Way of Water” Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole “Babylon” Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino “Elvis” Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn “The Fabelmans” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

Best Cinematography

“All Quiet on the Western Front” James Friend — WINNER “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” Darius Khondji “Elvis” Mandy Walker “Empire of Light” Roger Deakins “Tár” Florian Hoffmeister

Best Visual Effects

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar “Avatar: The Way of Water” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett — WINNER “The Batman” Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick “Top Gun: Maverick” Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

Best Film Editing

“The Banshees of Inisherin” Mikkel E.G. Nielsen “Elvis” Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Paul Rogers — WINNER “Tár” Monika Willi “Top Gun: Maverick” Eddie Hamilton

Best Documentary Feature

“All That Breathes” Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov “Fire of Love” Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman “A House Made of Splinters” Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström “Navalny” Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris — WINNER

Best Documentary Short Subject

“The Elephant Whisperers” Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga — WINNER “Haulout” Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev “How Do You Measure a Year?” Jay Rosenblatt “The Martha Mitchell Effect” Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison “Stranger at the Gate” Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Austin Butler in “Elvis” Colin Farrell in “The Banshees of Inisherin” Brendan Fraser in “The Whale” — WINNER Paul Mescal in “Aftersun” Bill Nighy in “Living”

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett in “Tár” Ana de Armas in “Blonde” Andrea Riseborough in “To Leslie” Michelle Williams in “The Fabelmans” Michelle Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER

Best Directing

“The Banshees of Inisherin” Martin McDonagh “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert — WINNER “The Fabelmans” Steven Spielberg “Tár” Todd Field “Triangle of Sadness” Ruben Östlund

Best Picture

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Malte Grunert, Producer “Avatar: The Way of Water” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers “The Banshees of Inisherin” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers “Elvis” Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers — WINNER “The Fabelmans” Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers “Tá”r Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers “Top Gun: Maverick” Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers “Triangle of Sadness” Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers “Women Talking” Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

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[the-celluloid-correspondent]

QUICKIE REVIEWS: OSCAR EDITION

The Quiet Girl, Directed by Colm Bairead

The Quiet Girl is a quiet beauty in this year's Oscar nominations. It's soft and heartfelt, as we see the world through a child's eye, who has known nothing but neglect. The story is straightforward and masterfully handles numerous themes from child-neglect and abusive households, to redefining what we considered to be family. The entire ensemble cast brings all of these themes to life masterfully. The cinematography and the simple score are beautiful. Overall, The Quiet Girl a charming film worthy of its Oscar nomination.

My Rating: A-

*******************************************************

An Ostrich Told Me The World is Fake and I Think I Believe It, Directed by Lachlan Pendragon.

If there ever was an Academy Award for Best Titled Film, An Ostrich Told Me The World is Fake and I Think I Believe It, would easily take the cake home. Besides the absurd title, with a runtime of 11 minutes, the film pulls apart the theme of the existential crisis, with a self-aware twist. It's a fun and incredibly intriguing premise of office life. The animation is wonderful. However, the story could have been ironed out a bit more, but overall this was a fun short film.

My Rating: B+

*******************************************************

Ice Merchant, Directed by Joao Gonzalez

There is something personal and touching within The Ice Merchant. For being 14 minutes long it's filled with themes such as grief, loss, and love. What's even more impressive is that it does this without saying a single word. All of these themes and many more are beautifully woven into the animation. The animation is stunning and thoughtful. Its ability to convey so many emotions, through a universal story is impressive. Overall, a beautiful piece of animation.

My Rating: A

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The Flying Sailor, Directed by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby.

The Flying Sailor is a fascinating take on near-death experiences. Inspired by the Halifax Explosion in 1917, we see a sailor get tossed across the city and we see his life flash before our eyes. It's thoughtful in its portrayal of these experiences without saying a single word. Though the animation style was not for me, I still respected it. Overall, an interesting animated piece.

My Rating: B

[lostgoonie1980]

90. An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It (An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It, 2022), dir. Lachlan Pendragon

[qudachuk]

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It was made by 26-year-old film-maker Lachlan Pendragon at his Brisbane home during CovidGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailOn a stage in Hollywood last month,...

[fictionz]

New Fiction 2023 - February

"Psalms" (101-150) ed. Richard Challoner (1752)

I’ll be honest, I just read Proverbs and now it blends in completely with whatever Psalms had going on. What I do remember of Psalms is realizing that a lot of what the ol’ Father is preaching at the pulpit is one-liners from this section of the bible.

Abyss by David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang (2001)

These DS9 novels spend a lot of time with Bashir and Dax as a couple, working out their couple stuff. I suppose they’re really the only couple available in these early releases of the relaunch, but I hope we get to see other perspectives on romantic relationships. But otherwise, it’s a neat and tidy little adventure, and I like the scenes in which a Jem’Hadar ally has to observe these weird humans and basically ask them “what the hell are you doing?”

"The Hole in the Wall" by Angela Hsieh (2022)

The hand in a hole! It’s great.

Men in Black: The Game dev. Gigawatt Studios & The Collective (1998)

Whoof. I mean, WHOOF. I would’ve been in for a survival horror game featuring the Men in Black, but then there’s awkward quips because it’s a comedy, and unnecessary action gameplay.

The Game of Life dev. Mass Media & The Collective (1998)

This was shockingly fun. A board game made into a video game could be so clunky and boring but this really felt like a neat way to play, as dated as the visual are by now.

"An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It" dir. Lachlan Pendragon (2022)

This is so clever and well done.

"The Flying Sailor" dir. Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby (2022)

Oh no, but somehow it has a happy ending.

"Ice Merchants" dir. João Gonzalez (2022)

This is sweet and I only cried a little.

"The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse" dir. Peter Baynton & Charlie Mackesy (2022)

So blaaaannnnd but it’s really good looking.

"My Year of Dicks" dir. Sara Gunnarsdóttir (2022)

Hey, she makes lists like I make lists.

"Ivalu" dir. Anders Walter & Pipaluk K. Jørgensen (2022)

I don’t know why we allow ourselves to succumb to the basest horrors.

"Night Ride (Nattrikken)" dir. Eirik Tveiten (2020)

So fuckin’ tense, holy shit. Just know it turns out okay.

"Le Pupille" dir. Alice Rohrwacher (2022)

This was a riot.

"The Red Suitcase" dir. Cyrus Neshvad (2022)

Another tense one!

"An Irish Goodbye" dir. Tom Berkeley & Ross White (2022)

It’s not easy, all I’m saying.

Groundhog Day dir. Harold Ramis (1993)

Finally watched this in a theater! On groundhog day! That’s how I wanna watch all date-specific movies from now on. It’s so wild that this is likely the origin of the modern time loop narrative.

Infinity Pool dir. Brandon Cronenberg (2023)

Jesus Christ, it just kinda goes on, getting more and more awful. But the final scenes bring it home for me.

80 for Brady dir. Kyle Marvin (2023)

This is so quaint in that “we don’t see movies like these in theaters” sorta way.

Magic Mike dir. Steven Soderbergh (2012)

Mike’s dream is so wholesome, he deserves it.

Living dir. Oliver Hermanus (2022)

I liked this. It reminds us that you can’t save the world, but you can help someone next to you.

Magic Mike XXL dir. Gregory Jacobs (2015)

This was just the victory lap after the success of the first. One more round.

She Came from the Woods dir. Erik Bloomquist (2022)

I see these smaller horror movies release to theaters every now and then. It fills a genre niche between larger mass audience stuff, but this particular was just a little undercooked. The Fear Street trilogy did it better.

Magic Mike's Last Dance dir. Steven Soderbergh (2023)

Sad to say, even the expected big dance number at the end doesn’t save it.

Knock at the Cabin dir. M. Night Shyamalan (2023)

I kept feeling bad for Shyamalan. The weight of expectation for him must be immense. But I came in with that expectation of something that would surprise me and this movie does not deliver on that front.

Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night dir. Ayako Kono (2023)

Holy shit! Anime movies is another random thing to pop up in theaters and sometimes they’re a bit too convoluted or reliant on their main series to explain things, but the premise of “we’re stuck in a video game and need to fight a boss” really makes this work. Loved that final boss battle.

Consecration dir. Christopher Smith (2023)

Another quaint sort of slow burn horror release that doesn’t get to theaters as often these days. It doesn’t stick but it was interesting to watch.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey dir. Rhys Waterfield (2023)

Great effects and staging, awful otherwise. One of those that might please those who are in it for the gore.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania dir. Peyton Reed (2023)

Jonathan Majors, that is all.

Johnny Mnemonic dir. Robert Longo (1995)

It was cool 90s cyberpunk but did you know there’s a black & white take on it?!

Virtuosity dir. Brett Leonard (1995)

Kind of a dystopian sci-fi take on Se7en.

Jesus Revolution dir. Jon Erwin & Brent McCorkle (2023)

I was real afraid that this would be a pro-Christianity all the time kinda movie, but there’s enough nuance there in depicting real people that I think it’s worth watching as a historical snapshot.

Cocaine Bear dir. Elizabeth Banks (2023)

Absolutely yes, let’s fuckin’ go. This is made to be seen in a theater.

Gattaca dir. Andrew Niccol (1997)

More somber and lowkey than I expected. It felt like a high budget episode of The Twilight Zone.

Strange Days dir. Kathryn Bigelow (1995)

Another whoof for rich white people trying to translate the experiences of real socioeconomic and racial problems in Los Angeles of the 90s (and today). But fun in a nostalgic “look what they thought the future would be” kinda way.

Kissed dir. Lynne Stopkewich (1996)

Molly Parker makes anything she’s in worth watching, even necrophilia.

Richard III dir. Richard Loncraine (1995)

Catching up on more Shakespeare that I’ve missed over the years. This one’s a real good way to translate this old timey kingdom stuff.

Eye for an Eye dir. John Schlesinger (1996)

Guh, I really thought there might be some attempt to comment on the perils of seeking revenge, but nope, let’s just fucking murder assholes who do wrong against us.

The Outer Limits - Seasons 4-6 (1998-2000)

So much Outer Limits, it’s hard to encapsulate as I approach the end of it. All I’ll say is that “Down to Earth” from season 6 has me tearing up because most of it is a satire about weirdo X-Files fans but then the main character’s motivation to just connect with someone, anyone who will believe her and allow her to express her loss and just listen makes the ending so tragic and gah this is absolutely in my list of TV that will shape who I am as a person.

[thetalentedmrkashyap]

B-4 : Oscars 2023 Predictions - A Film fan's perspective (Part - 2)

The 95th Academy Awards, a.k.a. The Oscars®, will take place on March 13 at 5:30 AM IST. The celebrations of the Oscar season are at their peak. Amid the fun and excitement, here's a look at the movies categories and our predictions of the winners:-

Best Animated Film

Nominees:

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar, and Alex Bulkley

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan, and Paul Mezey

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – Joel Crawford and Mark Swift

The Sea Beast – Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger

Turning Red – Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins

Prediction: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

del Toro's first attempt at stop-motion animation to present the classic tale of the wooden boy in a different style has received several accolades this year. An Oscar is gonna be another such honor.

Best International Feature Film

Nominees:

All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany) – directed by Edward Berger

Argentina, 1985 (Argentina) – directed by Santiago Mitre

Close (Belgium) – directed by Lukas Dhont

EO (Poland) – directed by Jerzy Skolimowski

The Quiet Girl (Ireland) – directed by Colm Bairéad

Prediction(s): All Quiet on The Western Front/Argentina, 1985

While the former is an anti-war film appreciated by critics & audiences, the latter was the Golden Globe winner in the same category this year. Hence, the two are gonna be strong contenders.

Best Documentary Feature

Nominees:

All That Breathes – Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann, and Teddy Leifer

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed – Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, and Yoni Golijov

Fire of Love – Sara Dosa, Shane Boris, and Ina Fichman

A House Made of Splinters – Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström

Navalny – Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, and Shane Boris

Prediction(s): All the Beauty and the Bloodshed/A House Made of Splinters

The former is about the life of photographer and activist Nan Goldin and her efforts to hold Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, accountable for the opioid epidemic. On the other hand, the latter is about an orphanage with children dealing with the Russia-Ukraine war. Both themes have been a crucial topic of discussion among cinephiles and filmmakers - and the Academy might be a part of it as well.

Best Documentary Short Subject

Nominees:

The Elephant Whisperers – Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga

Haulout – Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev

How Do You Measure a Year? – Jay Rosenblatt

The Martha Mitchell Effect – Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison

Stranger at the Gate – Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

Prediction(s): The Elephant Whispers/The Martha Mitchell Effect

The Academy can have a split decision between a human-elephant relationship and the whistleblower of the biggest political scandals of the world - Watergate!

Best Live Action Short Film

Nominees:

An Irish Goodbye – Tom Berkely and Ross White

Ivalu – Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan

Le Pupille – Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón

Night Ride – Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen

The Red Suitcase – Cyrus Neshvad

Prediction: An Irish Goodbye

The story of two siblings reuniting after their mother's death - filled with humor & drama would be the ultimate contender.

Best Animated Short Film

Nominees:

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud

The Flying Sailor – Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis

Ice Merchants – João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano

My Year of Dicks – Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon

An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It – Lachlan Pendragon

Prediction: My Year of Dicks

A teenage girl's obsession with finding the right partner for sex amid a comedic journey of disappointment and self-discovery can win the golden man for depicting female sexism.

Best Original Score

Nominees:

All Quiet on the Western Front – Volker Bertelmann

Babylon – Justin Hurwitz

The Banshees of Inisherin – Carter Burwell

Everything Everywhere All at Once – Son Lux

The Fabelmans – John Williams

Prediction: The Banshees of Inishrein/Babylon

While John Williams has become the most nominated living person (53 - winning 5), Hurwitz and Burwell would be giving The Fabelmans' score a tough competition. While the former gives the 1920s Silent Hollywood vibe, the latter's Irish folk composition is full of humor and intense tension as the film progresses.

Best Original Song

Nominees:

"Applause" from Tell It Like a Woman – Music and lyrics by Diane Warren

"Hold My Hand" from Top Gun: Maverick – Music and lyrics by Lady Gaga and BloodPop

"Lift Me Up" from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Göransson; Lyrics by Tems and Ryan Coogler

"Naatu Naatu" from RRR – Music by M. M. Keeravani; Lyrics by Chandrabose

"This Is a Life" from Everything Everywhere All at Once – Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne, and Mitski; Lyrics by Ryan Lott and David Byrne

Prediction: Naatu Naatu

Undoubtedly, this "feel good" dance number can make the Academy members shake their legs as well. The audience's love and the Golden Globe for Keeravani are enough to ensure an Oscar for another South Indian composer (first since AR Rahman for Jai Ho).

[jerichopalms]

#37: An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It (2021, dir. by Lachlan Pendragon)

[xkitcharmont]

♛┈⛧┈┈•༶      NEXT GEN FACTSHEET      ( created: oct 2022 )

featuring : MARCEL CHARMONT ( aged 25 ), prince of ulstead, twin of marguerite, adopted by king kit charmont.

inspiration : griffin ( about fate ), princess amelia mignonette thermopolis renaldi, princess of genovia ( the princess diaries ), chidi anagonye ( the good place ) first impression : tall, awkward, wears glasses, doesn’t look like he knows why he’s here, but he’s happy to be here

( FULL BIO FOUND HERE ) ( CONNECTIONS BELOW ! :3 )

GENERAL

full name. marcel françois gatel charmont preferred nickname. literally anything as long as its said with love, he is a tender boi date of birth. 14 august age. 25 years old. gender. male pronouns. he/him abilities. lawyer stuff, he’s so uncoordinated physically pls but he’ll still fight if his siblings/cousins do ://

sexuality. bisexual  place of birth. ulstead, france. current residence.  ulstead (soon to be elias!)  occupation. prince, junior lawyer

APPEARANCE

height.  5ft 11 ½ (181.6 cm) hair colour/style. floppy brown hair build. secretly kinda ripped under 3 layers of clothing ??? eye colour. brown. piercings. n/a         tattoos. a zebra on his hip as a dare.    notable markings. n/a glasses/contacts? YES, man needs glasses to survive, he wears chonky ones (chonky but fashionable, thank u jacqui)       faceclaim. a_lex fitz_alan.

PERSONALITY

tropes. book smart, did i just say that out loud?, the heart, lovable coward but also nerves of steel positive traits. open-hearted, compassionate, wise negative traits. low self-esteem, overthinker, reticent usual mood. very open and talkative interests/likes. animals, his favourite comfort coat (it’s super warm and long and waterproof), books, his family, ROMANCE HE’S A HOPELESS ROMANTIC :// dislikes. being dragged into things (but he’s a bit of a pushover), rudeness, and uhh .... fire bad habits. anxiety-spiralling

RELATIONSHIPS

biological parents. the gatels adoptive mother. ??????? adoptive father. kit charmont. siblings. jacqui charmont, marguerite charmont. significant others. ??

friends.

liam charmont : cousins

seth charmont : cousins

rosalie charmont : cousins

cosima charmont : cousins

odette charmont : cousins

basil charmont : cousins

tzeitel arnadalr : besties/friends ( blush emoji, has a mild ongoing crush on her shh )

lachlan arnadalr : friends

manuela nunnelley : friends ( i think she’s annoyed at him :// but eventually they become friends ?? she rants to him about life and he’s like nodding quietly )

theo pendragon : besties/roomies ( soft quiet besties, she does magic he does law, its a sitcom waiting to happen )

selene beausoleil : exes/friends ( they tried dating but realised they were rly just friends the whole time )

dixie reyes : friends ( quiet besties, they like to gossip about their siblings being weird, they sit on playground swings and sigh )

TESTS

zodiac sign. leo hogwarts house. hufflepuff.

SKILLS & STATS

languages spoken.  english, french, german, portuguese, japanese, ASL drive? yes. jump start a car? no. change a flat tire?  no.   ride a bicycle? yes. swim? yes. play an instrument? yes, vaguely piano and oboe play chess?  yes. braid hair? no.     tie a tie? yes. pick a lock? no. sew? no :((

[ WANTED CONNECTIONS ]

FRIENDS, ENEMIES, EXES, LOVERS, LET’S GOOOO