"The Substitute" Rules
I've finally seen all the Oscar-nominated live shorts (which are opening, by the way, on some 70 screens nationwide starting today), and my absolute favorite, hands down, is Andrea Judlin's The Substitute, a 15-minute Italian high-school comedy with a slight touch of Bunuelian surrealism.
Somehow a throughly unhinged businessman just waltzes into a high school classroom and pretends to be a substitute teacher. He's a kind of Jerry Lewis- styled madman, a taunter, a mind-fucker and, oddly, a kind of divine interventionist.
He puts the students int their place, goofing on their atttitudes, making fun of them like a circus clown on drugs. He humiliates the class apple-polisher. He steals a valuable small ball from a fat kid (i.e., one that's been signed by a soccer star) and won't give it back. He's a big-eyed nutter but not what I'd call harmful. Why he's doing this is a mystery, and it doesn't matter.
Then he asks a bespectacled bohemian-type girl to read a piece of private poetry she's written to the class...and she refuses. The beauty of The Substitute is that this refusal, which happens around the ten-minute mark, kicks in at the very end in an identical but different context. It doesn't precisely make sense, but at the same time it's perfect. I've said it over and over -- a great ending is worth its weight in gold.
The other nominated shorts are listed on this page. My second favorite short is At Night, a Danish-produced drama about a friendship between three young women who are marking time in a cancer ward. The other three -- The Mozart of Pickpockets, Tanghi Argentina and The Tonto Woman -- have their charms and intrigues, but none blew me away like The Substitute.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 15, 2008 at 11:11 AM
comment #1
George Prager
says ...
You want to shorten the Oscar telecast? Stop giving these short film awards out during the show. No one cares, the films almost always suck and the recipients are usually pretentious trust-funders, Christine Lahti or Finns with Asperger's Syndrome. During their interminable speeches the cameras always cut to the audience, to a confused looking Jennifer Aniston, or Brad Pitt looking like he's just eaten a mad dog. Let's end this charade. The Academy could care less about the short film categories and they're right.
Posted by George Prager
at February 15, 2008 11:59 AM
comment #2
RMBurnett
says ...
Gosh,
What a ridiculous thing to say. Most, if not all, great filmmakers began their careers by making short films. Why shouldn't these fledgling efforts be honored? Better these then adding a commercial or music video category to the awards.
Besides, there's some brilliant and exciting filmmaking on display in some of these efforts, worth uncovering...
Posted by RMBurnett
at February 15, 2008 12:18 PM
comment #3
alan
says ...
George Prager: Hear, hear!
Posted by alan
at February 15, 2008 12:19 PM
comment #4
PhilVillarreal
says ...
George Prager has a point. The Academy should at least expand its guidelines. I've watched all of this year's nominated shorts, and not a week passes that I don't see something on YouTube that would kick all of the nominated films' asses.
Posted by PhilVillarreal
at February 15, 2008 12:21 PM
comment #5
dangovich
says ...
Finns with Asperger's Syndrome
Easily one of the best bands of the 80s.
Posted by dangovich
at February 15, 2008 2:41 PM
comment #6
gruver1
says ...
Suggesting that awards for shorts (some of which are brilliant, depending on the year and the luck of the draw) should be dumped is despicable. Prager says no one cares about them. Well, I care. I'm not saying a lot of the stuff on YouTube isn't great, but a movie world with shorts will always be a richer one than one without. It's such a dispiriting downer to read such lowball ventings. It makes me ashamed of myself because on some level I think I'm responsible for them because HE attracts chronic naysayers.
Posted by gruver1
at February 15, 2008 3:26 PM
comment #7
George Prager
says ...
The best thing about shorts are that they're short.
Seriously, people can make shorts all they want and they should be recognized, but if you want a better, shorter Oscar broadcast, then take out the shorts. No one knows about these shorts, no one cares, no one pretends to care, the titles and clips go by so fast, that these nominees barely register even to those who do care. The people who win these things are rarely heard from again (and if they are, they make films like FREEJACK). The entire thing reminds me of the opening scene of THE BIG PICTURE.
Posted by George Prager
at February 15, 2008 3:55 PM
comment #8
dave l
says ...
"It makes me ashamed of myself because on some level I think I'm responsible for them because HE attracts chronic naysayers."
Exactly right, you set the tone for the website, which is why it's full of relentlessly negative and argumentative folk like yourself.
Posted by dave l
at February 15, 2008 6:17 PM
comment #9
PerfectTommy
says ...
I like going to see the nominated shorts because there is a chance of being surprised. Most features I go into knowing what to expect. The short doc "Two Hands" was one of my favorite films from last year.
Posted by PerfectTommy
at February 15, 2008 11:34 PM
comment #10
snackyx
says ...
With all due respect, George did preface his remarks with "If you want to shorten the Oscar telecast". Every year the morning after reviews are "too long, dragged on, needs to be 30-40 minutes shorter". Look--its one fucking night for the big movie awards--if the show drags on for four hours then so be it. If Gil Cates and the advertisers are worried that the masses on the east coast will go to be before it ends then 1)start it earlier, or 2) shorten the show. The latter has been discussed ad nausium and the most common suggestions are 1) ditch the ON AIR presentation of the short subject awards, and 2) cut those yawn-inducing production numbers of the "Best Song" catagory--a catagory that has been suspect in the minds of many for years. Want more cuts? Those octogenarian awards could be exorcised, but isn't that a big part of the industry?
I say, let the damn thing roll on for one night a year and everyone quit their bitching.
Posted by snackyx
at February 16, 2008 8:05 AM