The five 2011 Oscar nominations for “Best short film (live action)”

Movie: The five 2011 Oscar nominations for “Best short film (live action)”:

"The Confession": Two young boys are preparing for their first Catholic confession.  A practical joke goes tragically wrong.  For one of the boys, things goes from bad to worse as he struggles to decide just what he is going to confess to when he has his confession.  Starts out pretty funny and then gets really serious in a shockingly short time. Pretty well done.

"The Crush": A third grader has a crush on his school teacher.  He takes his feelings REALLY seriously.  A lot of surprises and a lot of humor – some a bit dark.  I thought this was the best of the bunch.

"God of Love": A singer receives a mysterious package of darts.  Sticking someone with one of the darts makes the person more susceptible to love – with the next person to come along.  A pretty funny film as the singer learns that he has a real knack for picking couples.  The surprise comes when we learn who sent the package.

"Na Wewe": Takes place during the civil war between the Tutsis and Hutus in 1994 Burundi.  A bus containing a diverse group of people is stopped by Hutu soldiers who demand that everyone in the bus identify themselves.  The plan is to execute any Tutsis. This film left me kind of flat – my least favorite.

"Wish 143": David is a terminally ill teenager whose wish (number 143) is to lose his virginity before he dies.  The film follows his efforts – and the efforts of a priest to dissuade him – to accomplish his wish.  This was myt second favorite of the five.  I thought this was a really sweet film with a pretty decent ending.  There is a scene where he is actually in bed with someone (I don’t want to give everything away).  When I heard what he really wanted, it almost made me cry.

[41]