It may seem surprising, but the shorter length lends itself well to dealing with complex emotions. In one short, Bus Story, snow plops down on the French countryside in a second-long hurrumph, marking the transition from fall to winter. The sudden change seemed matter of fact, and it made me and the audience giggle. The short chronicles a French woman who loves her job as a school bus driver, but constantly screws up, running over dogs and getting stuck in snowdrifts. She is relatable and ridiculous, almost as absurd as the star of another short, A Single Life. The two-minute length is hilarious considering it chronicles an entire life! In it, a quite awkward woman (she had no neck, and she looked like a bowling pin) discovers a record that, when she rewinds and fast-forwards it, in turn rewinds and fast-forwards her life. She jumps from a baby to an old woman, and finally poofs into an urn of ashes. The quick transitions capture the hilarious absurdity of time and more broadly, human existence.
My favorite is without a doubt, The Dam Keeper. Directed by Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi, the 18-minute long piece is a tearjerker, full of emotive animation. The scenes are rendered as charcoal drawings with color—the characters and landscapes have beautiful shadows and a sense of physical depth that only charcoal can capture. Although the story stars schoolchildren, a square of golden light streaming in from the window makes the drama intense and real. I vote Dam Keeper. But the AMPAS will probably choose Feast, Disney’s love story from the perspective of a puppy. It’s a classic narrative, and it shows off some impressive new animation techniques. It’s cute. But you should all find The Dam Keeper online. You’ll cry.