Bao (2018)

I went seeing Incredibles 2 about a month ago and you know what stuck with me the most? Bao, the short animated film that preceded the movie. Not only because it's the first short film at Pixar directed by a woman, Domee Shi, but because it's a small masterpiece. 

The film follows a Chinese-Canadian woman. She just made dumplings for her husband and she, but he eats in a hurry and leaves for work, leaving her sad and alone. When she is about to eat her Boazi, one of them comes to life, it grows into a little dough boy and she begins to raise it as a son.

It is a very simple but equally touching and moving story of a woman, one of the many, who is suffering of empty nest syndrome and her way of coying with it —the relationship this woman develops with the dumpling essentially replaces that she had with her son. It is not a new theme, nor extremely complex, but Bao handles it with sensitivity and heart. It shows how hard is dealing with the fact that your son has grown, that he doesn't need you anymore, that he's ready to move on with his life. It also portrays that kind of love where you'd rather destroy that person than let him/her go. 

Bao doesn't only do that though. Being written and directed by a Chinese woman, this short film also deals with a racial theme. When the son returns home, he introduces his mother his soon-to-be-girlfriend who is not Asian. Through this, Shi addresses the fear of bringing your girlfriend/boyfriend to meet a disapproving parent, which can be felt with all ethnicities, whether or not you are racist. 

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The animation is brilliant, just like you would expect from Pixar. It's bright and colourful, highly detailed and both characters and backgrounds are very striking. The music is equally beautiful and fits very well the story.

Ultimately, Bao is a short gem. I'm not sure little kids will fully understand it —actually, they could be confused, even frightened by it— but they I think they would enjoy the charming story and characters.

Hotel Chevalier (2007)

Months ago, I watched Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited for the first time and, as I was expecting, I loved it. Thanks to Steven from Surrender to the Void I learnt about Hotel Chevalier, a short film prologue to The Darjeeling Limited. 

In this short, Jack (Jason Schwartzman), one of the Whitman brothers, is lying on a bed, wearing a robe and ordering from room service. His peace is disrupted when he gets a call from his ex-girlfriend (Natalie Portman) who informs him she'll be there in 30 minutes. He tides the room, draws a bath, changes his clothes and puts on Peter Sarstedt's Where Do You Go to My Lovely.

She arrives, looks around, brushes her teeth and exchanges some awkward words with Jack. Someone knocks on the door; it's the waiter with room service. As soon as he leaves, passion takes over. Or does it?

Hotel Chevalier certainly is an important backstory for The Darjeeling Limited, as we get to know more about the relationship between Jack and his ex-girlfriend --we don't learn much but enough to develop a bit further Jack's character and know something about the ex-girlfriend who is only mentioned in the feature-- and there are several elements in here that also appear in the feature film that you won't catch if you haven't seen the short already.

Does it work as a stand-alone film? I'm not sure about that as it is a little confusing at first even though you have seen the film, and you will feel Natalie Portman's character when she asks, what the fuck is going on. Without The Darjeeling Limited, both past and future are left to interpretation/imagination. Also, because the story Anderson tells here is very limited, the drama comes off a little cold. It's that coldness, that lack of emotion that really stuck with me about Hotel Chevalier though.

Fox Searchlight Pictures

That, and the stunning visuals. There's a combination of yellow and dark colours that fits the story and characters to perfection as they portray how they feel around each other, comfortable and yet a little awkward. The background music is a little too loud and, at times, it makes it kinda hard to understand what the characters are saying, but is really beautiful.

Lou (2017)

While Coco got the apparently obnoxious (I haven't seen it yet) Olaf's Frozen Adventure, the apparently obnoxious Cars 3 (yes, you guessed it right, I haven't seen this one either. And I'll probably never watch it) got Lou. Now, I don't usually watch shorts but I made an exception for this one because of the Oscar nomination (I watched this while I was waiting for the ceremony to start). 

Lou is a "monster" made from the unclaimed items in the lost-and-found box in a kindergarten playground. Every day, Lou picks up the toys the kids left behind and sets them out on the playground for their owners to find. Then one day a bully starts taking other kids' toys and puts them in his backpack so Lou peacefully battles him to return the stolen toys.

As you can see, it's a pretty simple story but in its 6 minutes it's sweet and heartwarming and delivers an important message about bullying in a way that all audiences can understand it, especially kids. So given the message it totally makes sense that this was shown before Cars 3. Maybe it resolves the bullying in an overly simplistic way, it makes it look so/too easy (I know something about it since I've been a victim of bullying myself), but it's a start.

Lou doesn't only teach a lesson about bullies, but about responsibilities as well. How many times have we lost things? Forgot where we put them? Well, this short makes us reflect on that as well. 

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

In terms of animation, Lou isn't Pixar's best but it's still visually beautiful, cute and colourful. If you get the chance, watch this sweet and charming little film.

Six Shooter (2004)

I never watch short movies. There isn't a reason behind it, I just don't. But when I had the idea of writing a piece for Martin McDonaugh's birthday, I figured I should watch Six Shooter, his Oscar-winning short film. 

Six Shooter tells the story of a recently widowed man, Donnelly (Brendan Gleeson), who founds himself on a train in the same carriage as a couple (David Wilmot and Aisling O'Sullivan) who has just lost their son for coth death and an annoying and cynical young man (Rúaidhrí Conroy) who arouses his fellow passengers with rude and offensive behavior. 

It's a very simple an yet brilliant and quite disturbing story about people dealing with death in very different ways. It's developed in such an interesting way and its 30 minutes will deliver several shocking twists and surprises. The plot is exaggerated --it's something you would expect if you have seen anything from McDonagh-- and yet it's believable and keeps you glued to the screen. 

McDonagh was also able to fit in the short running time very interesting characters with a good (for its running time) characterization and development. The most interesting characters are of course Donnelly and the young man. The first is the only one in all the acts of the film, but he is some sort of viewer, he doesn't have control over anything. Things happen around him and there's nothing he can do. The young man, on the other hand, is only in the second act but he is at the center of the action. The performances from Brendan Gleeson and Rúaidhrí Conroy make them even more compelling.

Magnolia Home Entertainment, The Works

Just like McDonagh's feature films, Six Shooter too has the right balance between comedy and drama and the black comedy is spot on. Of course, if you don't like dark comedy, you won't find this funny, but if you do, you'll spend some quite hilarious 30 minutes watching this. There's a story told by the young man about a cow with trapped wind that is random and bizarre as it is hilarious. The short is worth watching for that scene alone. 

The camera-work is very nice, especially on the train, and manages to keep the tension up. The scenery is also very beautiful --thank you, Irland-- and the photography is breathtaking.