Best Animated Short 2019 - Nominees

Well, here it is, the long-awaited day where I make another post on this blog. Yes, I confess that I have had some ideas for posts, but have been too lazy to turn them into reality. However, today we are no longer able to ignore or procrastinate, for it is the day the Oscar nominations were announced (at an unpleasantly early hour on top of that.) But the time has now come to welcome five new films into the ranks of Best Animated Short nominees


And here they are:


Dcera (Daughter)
Hair Love
Kitbull
Memorable
Sister (妹妹)




I didn't attempt a prediction this year when I presented the shortlist last month after it was announced, but I have peeked at some of the other predictions, and I noted that many of them had the Canadian shorts The Physics of Sorrow and Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days. Naturally, both were left off, thereby confirming that NFB's drought would continue for yet another year. (Their last win was The Danish Poet in 2006, so at least that has gone for half as long as the Stanley Cup drought.) Meanwhile Memorable came out as the surprise nomination as the day. I saw Sister getting passed over, but I thought that had a reasonably decent shot at a nomination. I am glad it made the cut in the end, because it means a film completely in Mandarin would be among the nominees.


Last year was a historic year in that it was the first time since I started this blog where I had seen all of the nominated films on the day of the nomination, so I was able to post a review. Alas, none of the five shortlisted films I was missing were posted in their entirety, so no full review until they are posted, or I make my way to one of the showings. So stay tuned.


Meanwhile, I admit I had been watching more of the Oscar contenders than in years past. I've actually seen six of the nine Best Picture nominees. I confess I haven't seen the film with the most nominations, which surprisingly is Joker. I was somewhat doubtful that it would even get nominated for Best Picture, and it ended up beating The Irishman and Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood by one. I do think Parasite is a force to be reckoned with. For a foreign film to get six nominations indicates fairly widespread support. Could it actually win Best Picture? It's too early to tell.


Meanwhile, for the Best Animated Feature category, Frozen II is obviously the surprise snub, similar to The Lego Movie back in 2014. However, it wasn't shut out completely as "Into the Unknown" did get its expected Best Original Song nod. However, Toy Story 4 picked up nominations in both categories. That doesn't necessarily make it the favorite, as I'm sure How to Train Your Dragon: The Lost World, I Lost My Body, Klaus, and Missing Link would also get broad support. Yes, this seems like as open of a year as any.