Best Animated Short 2022 - Nominees

Yes, this is the beginning of the tenth decade of the Best Animated Short category at the Oscars. Of course, I haven't exactly been the most diligent at updating this blog. (I guess a part of me is still somewhat upset at The Windshield Wiper taking the category this past year.) Why, the shortlist was announced all the way back on December 21. Normally I'd make a post introducing the shortlist, but as you might have noticed I haven't done so this year. It doesn't help that December 21 happened to be the day that I drove cross-country and didn't have the chance to make the post, but it's been a whole month since then and I still hadn't made the post. I guess I just didn't think it was all that necessary.

Of course by no means did it indicate that I was no longer paying attention to the category. During the month-long deliberation I had managed to watch 11 of the 15 shortlisted films. And all that leads to the nominees, the final list of five animated short films that could be up for the exalted honor shared by such legendary films as Magoo's Puddle Jumper, A Greek Tragedy, and The Windshield Wiper.

And the nominees are:
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
The Flying Sailor
Ice Merchants
My Year of Dicks
An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It

Well, what can I say? Surprisingly four of the five nominated films were ones I've managed to dig up in the month since the shortlist was announced. I had a feeling The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse and Ice Merchants would get nominations based on the acclaim around them (and I'd have to suppose The Boy would be the front-runner at this point given the fact it is being distributed by Apple TV+ who helped CODA to Best Picture last year). And of the films I didn't see I wouldn't have been surprised that An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It would make the mark since the title and the trailer both made it seem like a very interesting film. I also really enjoyed The Flying Sailor and My Year of Dicks, although I was definitely much less optimistic about their chances of getting nominated. 

Of course that meant there were the films that were left out in the cold. Of the shortlisted films I had seen that didn't get a nod, I'm most surprised Black Slide and New Moon got left out. The former had plenty of accolades while the latter had a distinctive visual flair with the support of actor Colman Domingo. I had also heard of strong support for It's Nice in Here, but I hadn't seen it. Still, I can't really be terribly upset at the cast of the final five. 

Fun fact: An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It has surpassed The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello to become the nominated film with the longest title in the history of this category. Jasper Morello ended up in the top ten for that decade even in a re-ranking. Who knows if An Ostrich can match that feat. We won't find out for ten years.

As far as the rest of the nominations go, I gotta admit I haven't really been keeping track all that closely. As a matter of fact, I've seen only one of the Best Picture nominees, which is Everything Everywhere All at Once. Being a child of Chinese immigrants the story really stuck home for me, so it did make me happy that it led all films nominated with 11*. It also made me happy that Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu all got nominations. That's three actors of Chinese descent nominated in one year, not bad considering previously only Haing S. Ngor and the Tilly sisters were Chinese actors that were nominated, and they were half-Chinese at that.

*Not that leading all films in nominations is any harbinger of success. The Turning Point and The Color Purple were both films with 11 nominations that got shut out in their respective years. On the other hand, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King also got 11 nominations, but swept them all to tie Ben-Hur and Titanic with 11 wins. That won't happen to Everything Everywhere All at Once thanks to the double nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category.

I've even fallen behind among Best Animated Feature nominees, the only one of which I've seen is Turning Red. Given the fact that Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Sea Beast are all available to watch online through rental services, it really doesn't give me much of an excuse to not watch it.

But even then my top priority is to wait until An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It becomes available online so I can watch it and finish my review.