reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (03/25/85)
One of the programs at Filmex featured all of the live ac-
tion and animated short films which have been nominated for Aca-
damy Awards this year. The animated shorts are not very strong,
the live action ones OK but not sensational.
"Dr. Desoto" is a cartoon based on a children's book. Dr.
Desoto is a mouse dentist. He and his wife, who is also his as-
sistant, break their usual policy of not treating any animals
which are dangerous to mice by extracting a fox's aching tooth.
But how to outsmart the hungry fox? The animation is far from
exceptional and the story only mildly amusing. "Dr. Desoto" is
the sort of film which will be boring children at Saturday after-
noon film programs at libraries for years to come. (I should
know: I used to run the projector for such programs. The same
cartoons showed up year after year.)
"Paradise" is a perfect example of what's wrong with so many
films from the National Film Board of Canada: all style, no sub-
stance. "Paradise" has the best animation of the nominated
films, but its story is thin enough to be transparent. A black-
bird dresses up in false finery to impress a sultan. Spurned, he
spends five minutes more being animated doing nothing in particu-
lar but being involved in fancy patterns. "Paradise" is a film
difficult for anyone but an animator to love.
"Charades" isn't a great cartoon, but it's lots of fun, and
is the only one of the three I'd willingly see again. Basically,
it's a one-joke film about two men alternating turns at charades.
Lot's of witty little bits backing up the central joke, and it's
nice to know that I'm not the only one who remembers the theme
song from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". The animation is
sufficient for its purpose, but not interesting in and of itself.
"Charades" is the probable winner based on the weakness of the
field this year.
On to the live action films. "Tales of Meeting and Parting"
is largely a set of flashbacks by an elderly Japanese man. He
recalls an American prisoner he helped, out of human decency,
during WWII, and an Indian prison guard who helped him just after
the war. Robert Ito gives a good performance, and the film is
generally well made, but I find it hard to get excited about.
"The Painted Door" is a farm story set during a dreadful
blizzard. A man of exceptional determination sets out to reach
his father's farm, miles away, despite the storm and his wife's
entreaties. He convinces his best friend to stay the night with
the wife until he returns, but the storm worsens and the wife and
friend begin to remember an attraction they had for each other.
Surely the husband won't try to return through such a dreadful
snowstorm...Told entirely from the wife's point of view, "The
Painted Door" is well made, evocative of its setting, and pos-
sessed of a nice little twist at the end. Good, not great.
I am not a big fan of movies about the joys of flying. None
the less, "Up" seemed to me to be the best of the live action
shorts. A man who works with bald eagles goes hang gliding off
of some really extraordinary scenary. Some of it looks like
Monument Valley. He even lands on one of the high red rock
spires. The scenary and photography are so outstanding that an
unimaginative story and some dime store mysticism can be for-
given. "Up" contains some of the most amazing flying sequences
I've ever seen. Had I a vote in the Acadamy, "Up" would get it
for best live action short.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher