Categories One-by-One: Live-Action Short

[Mister Tee]

Since the first three I watched were Ivalu, The Red Suitcase, and Night Ride, my early thought was, evil toxic masculinity is this year's clearly favored topic.

Ivalu fell a bit flat for me...it felt more like "here's a situation" than "here's a story". Though I liked the closing image.

Like Magilla, I had no confusion over Night Ride. The bad boys were punished, and the lady and the trans walked away triumphant. It was certainly an imaginative enough piece of work, though not my favorite.

There were things I very much liked about Le Pupille. Of late, it seems the only nuns I see are those rallying for good liberal causes, or rooting on underdog sports teams. The central nun in this film comports better with those I knew: heavily prudish, sanctimonious moral blackmailers. I enjoyed watching the girls rebel against them. However...the film seemed to have too many framing devices. I have no idea why the partially-read letter needed to be there, and the story seemed to take a long time to get started for what was a pretty minor payoff.

An Irish Goodbye was amusing, with that seemingly-tough-but-softly-sentimental-in-the-end tone that's become emblematic of much Irish stuff these days outside of McDonagh. I wouldn't have a big problem with it winning.

But The Red Suitcase is my favorite, and I think it has a good chance of being the choice. I love that it throws you into the situation without initial explanation: you're wondering why this young woman is behaving this way, and if you should want her to succeed. Then, in a flash, the entire gestalt becomes clear: not just why she is where she is, but how little say she had in any of it, and her desperation to slip free. The film then becomes a will-she-escape suspense story, which has a gloriously mixed finale: yes, she escapes -- but, in the process, she loses those parts of her past -- of herself -- that she DID want to hold onto. All of this happens in quite short strokes -- there's not a wasted moment in the film -- and leaves the audience (well, me) heartbroken and happy for her in the same moment. Really an exceptional piece.

[Big Magilla]

Night Ride has a woman inadvertently hijacking a tram and goes around picking up passengers. When the film was over I was like, "That's it?" [/i]

I thought it had a very satisfying ending. The woman and a passenger get off the tram and sit for a few moments on a bench. While they're sitting there, police cars with their sirens blazing whiz by, the assumption being that they're going to arrest the punk who took over the tram from her while she gets to disappear into the night.

[Big Magilla]

1. An Irish Goodbye - an Irish charmer in the same vein as The Banshees of Inisherin
2. Night Ride - highly suspenseful with a nifty surprise ending
3. The Red Suitcase - highly suspenseful but with an inconclusive ending
4. Le Pupille - charming but slight
5. Ivalu - starts out well but has nowhere to go but down a very dark path

[gunnar]

I would rank them as follows:

1. The Red Suitcase
2. An Irish Goodbye
3. Le Pupille
4. Night Ride
5. Ivalu


The Red Suitcase was my favorite by far with An Irish Goodbye a distant second, a cut above the next two.

[OscarGuy]

My ranking:

1. The Red Suitcase
2. Ivalu
3. An Irish Goodbye
4. Night Ride
5. Le Pupille

[anonymous1980]

Might as well finish off the shorts.

The nominees:
An Irish Goodbye
Ivalu
Le Pupille
Night Ride
The Red Suitcase

An Irish Goodbye is a dramedy about a man returning to his childhood home after his mother dies in order to convince his brother, who has Down Syndrome, to move in with their aunt so he can be taken cared of. Things get complicated when they find their mom's bucket list and the brother insists on completing. This is the only nominee in English and is sweet and funny. It could very well win.

Ivalu is about a young Inuit girl in Greenland wakes up one morning and finds her sister missing. Based on a graphic novel, this one is well-shot and incorporates some fantastical elements but I do think the big reveal on the mystery of her missing sister wasn't handled too well. The director, Anders Walter, is a former winner in this category so I wouldn't count this out.

Le Pupille is about a Catholic boarding school for girls during World War II in Christmastime. When a parishioner donates a rich, lavish Christmas cake, the head nun asks the girls to make a sacrifice....will they? This one is the most high-profile of the shorts: It's on Disney+ and produced by Alfonso Cuaron. Plus it's got cute kids. It is charming and funny but a bit light. But its pedigree might bring it the win.

Night Ride has a woman inadvertently hijacking a tram and goes around picking up passengers. When the film was over I was like, "That's it?" I don't think this will do all that much.

The Red Suitcase opens with a Muslim girl from Iran who waits till the very last minute to pick up her baggage from the carousel and step out of an airport in Luxembourg, seemingly terrified of what awaits her out there. Once you realize what the deal is, this becomes a genuinely suspenseful film. You keep wondering what's going to happen next. The resolution could've been better but personally, I think this is the best of the five and gets my vote.

In order of preference:
01. The Red Suitcase
02. An Irish Goodbye
03. Le Pupille
04. Ivalu
05. Night Ride

In order of likelihood of winning:
01. Le Pupille
02. The Red Suitcase
03. An Irish Goodbye
04. Ivalu
05. Night Ride