Please note that the Academy Award for Best Animated Short film winner was In the Shadow of the Cypress announced at the 97^th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 2.  All the Academy Award nominated films including the winner are available online and now playing at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts through Thursday, March 6.  Click here for more information and for tickets.

From loneliness to love struck, this year’s Oscar nominated Animated shorts mixed lighthearted comedy and tragedy covering a wide range of issues including the effects of trauma, bullying, and PTSD.

Nina Gantz’s dutch and international stop motion animated short Wander to Wonder is a poignant and strange reflection of days past.  It runs 14 minutes.

Though the short is about a children’s show, it is not for young children and features some disturbing content. 

Flies swarm as a group of tiny performers are trapped inside an old studio and fighting for survival where 80s Belgium children program Wander to Wonder was filmed after its originator Uncle Gilly, depicted by Neil Savage, passes away.  Wander to Wonder has a sorrowful and dank feel to reflect how much time has passed since the gleam of this beautiful and eccentric, if not widely watched children’s show was on the air.  Delivering moments of wacky humor, Toby Jones as Fumbleton, Amanda Lawrence as Mary and Terrance Dunn as Billybud express an inherent yearning as they reflect upon the fond memories of the program and make an awkward attempt to recreate some of them while trying to survive which can be bereft, odd and gruesome.  I felt for their sad situation, but didn’t find myself invested enough in the characters as they struggle to adapt.

Written and directed by Loïc Espuche featuring bright and inviting two dimension animation, French short film Yuck! (Beurk)  is a 13 minute long sweet tale about discovering first love.

A group of children revel in spying on others at summer camp and are disgusted as they watch couples kiss.  However, Leo discovers he has a crush on his friend Lucie.  Yuck explores the discovery, joy, confusion and heartache of life through the eyes of a child.  It is a brief and endearing tale that is worth every minute.

What if you can learn the truth about life around you?

Written by Baek Heena and directed by Daisuke Nishio, Magic Candies is an insightful 21 minute Japanese CGI animated short about a lonely boy named Dong Dong who purchases a pack of mysterious candies and runs 21 minutes.  However, these colorful candies have a compelling and unexpected power that takes Dong-Dong by complete surprise. 

With the exception of the distinctive characters, the settings are incredibly realistic.  From Dong-Dong’s textured jeans to each detailed strand in the dog’s fur to the layered patterns in Dong-Dong’s wrapped blanket to sweeping fall foliage, Magic Candies unfolds is an aesthetically pleasing manner and is a must see film that is funny, moving, silly, clever and heartwarming.

Directed by Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi, Iranian short film In the Shadow of the Cypress, winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, delves into the strained relationship between a father who suffers from PTSD as the result of war and his daughter which is nearing a breaking point.

Both live together in an isolated seaside house.  The two dimensional 20 minute animated film boasts finely delicate details that enhance the rippling waves, the slender and stylized design of each of the characters right down to the father’s long striped beard.  Its remarkable sound design embellishes a storm of seagulls, an alarming ship ablaze, and the subtle triggers that set the father off as he struggles with his harrowing conflict within.  It can be slow at times, but it is worth watching for its captivating conclusion.

How far would you go to look your best?

Balding brothers Steven, Bart, and Koen travel to Istabul to have hair transplants.  However, it is quickly discovered that only one appointment is available.  It traces each character’s nature, insecurities, and how they handle the situation as this error becomes known.

Nicolas Keppens’s Beautiful Men is a two dimension 19 minute international comedy drama short which combines cut out stop motion and white board animation and contains some adult content and nudity.  It is at times a candid short that explores just how far one would go for self improvement.    

Each of Academy Award nominated films including the winner is available online and at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts through Thursday, March 6.  Click here for more information and for tickets.