2025 Oscar Picks Deep Dive: Live Action Short Film
A complex collection of 5 films under 40 minutes each!
Welcome to the third and final installment in this 2025 Oscar Pick Deep Dive series on Short Film nominees. Subscribers get my Oscar picks tomorrow (here’s last year’s picks) and everyone can join me for a live chat during the Oscars on Sunday, March 2 at Substack!
Please welcome James Patrick as our very first guest writer with R-Rated Movie Club! Back when we were far younger men, James and I played online together in a weekly video game group. Today, James is a writer based in Pittsburgh and he joined me for my screening of the Oscar-Nominated Live Action Short Films. Let me turn it over to Jay for his take on the Oscars…
Thanks to my old friend Nate Melcher for making the journey to Pittsburgh so we could get together for drinks and cinema in my backyard at the Row House Cinema. He even flattered me with an invite me to write thoughts about the Oscar nominated Live Action Shorts on his R-Rated Movie Club. I’ll twist the topic into a chat about the Academy Award enterprise and why the awards matter – even when they really truly don’t.
The Powerful Simplicity Live Action Shorts and the Oscars that Always/Never Matter
For as long as I’ve been a writer on cinema, I’ve been a fan of the Academy Awards. This statement, however, requires a soupcon of contextual nuance and the following caveat: the Oscars are always wrong. They’re a slave to two masters: the Hollywood ghosts of the past and the ephemeral zeitgeist.
It comes down to this: the Academy errs and fumbles in historically interesting ways. Through the course of its history, decade to decade, year to year, the Oscar goes to films that tell us something about who we were as people, as moviegoers, as flawed and evolving humans. And even when they get it righter than normal, Warren Beatty reads the wrong envelope.
I began writing an online movie review website in 1995 when a friend and I vowed to review every major release of the year. We didn’t quite get there, but we wrote our way into early online syndication, a feature in the Sunday Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and into a print edition of the Best TV and Movies Sites on the Internet. We, of course, in our infinite 15-year-old wisdom wrote a piece predicting what the Academy Awards were going to get wrong. I took these offenses more serious then because I was still under the romantic misapprehension that Academy Awards were dispensed solely on merit.
How quaint.
But here’s the thing—my ever-increasing disillusionment has never dulled my desire to participate in the process. Once upon a time, I’d host big Oscar Parties with drink menus tailored to the current year’s movie trends and nominees. I’m always invested in the pomp and ceremony of the Oscars, even if I can no longer find the fury to create websites calling for a boycott of Titanic. (This did, indeed, happen.)
In recent years, I’ve become more invested in the short subject nominees than ever before. I’ve made a more concerted effort to watch the live action and animated shorts because the collection of these ten shorts says more about our immediate sociopolitical moment than any other moment in the three-plus hour festivity.
I rarely agree with their winner, but—once again—that’s not exactly the point. The live action shorts distill a message into 20 minutes. As a result, they’re more powerful than a feature film, more able to work their way into our subconscious, a concentrated dose of despair—and let’s be clear, they are always despairing; the Academy has no ability to judge and celebrate comedy, except in hindsight. Comedians gets lifetime achievement awards, as if excellence can only be invested and redeemed like a 401K retirement plan.
Collectively, the Live Action shorts are swift, spiritual kicks to the head, and they never allow you to leave feeling better about humanity. They’re cinematic activism, unchecked social messaging, too purposefully political for the Hollywood system, that snuck onto the rollercoaster because they were too short to ride.
—JP
Thanks, James, glad to have you. Okay, Dear Reader, let’s dive into Animated Short Film. Here they are in my ranked order, fifth to first:
And the Best Live Action Short Film Nominees are…
Anuja | Adam J. Graves, 22 min., USA, Hindi
Nate’s Thoughts: A pair of orphaned sisters try to work their way out of poverty through a little sweatshop labor and a lot of hustle. The story has basis in reality, with the lead actor coming from a boarding school that has been instrumental in lifting young people out of the slums. It’s a good story, though it plays it safer than I anticipated, with a telegraphed ending. Still, it’s worth a watch.
James’s Thoughts: Anuja, specifically, feels indebted to Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955); it just doesn’t maintain that level of impassioned proximity to its subject, a young girl confronting barriers in her attempt to escape a dehumanizing system of sweatshop servitude. The form detracts from the simple function.
You can watch the 22-minute film on Netflix. Watch a trailer here:
The Last Ranger | Cindy Lee, 28 min., South Africa, Xhosa
Nate’s Thoughts: Based on a true story of a rhino attacked by poachers, The Last Ranger weaves a complicated tale of family, duty, betrayal, justice, and restoration. It’s a good glimpse into a tragic reality that must be, and indeed through painstaking efforts, is changing. While the film is impactful, it has a movie feel. That should be okay, right? But of the 5 films here, I’m pretty sure it was the only one with set-up and static shots instead of fully handheld, and I think this would have presented better otherwise. Then again, I have yet to make an Oscar-nominated film, so what do I know.
James’s Thoughts: Adam J. Graves’ Anuja and Cindy Lee’s The Last Ranger (a fictionalized account of South African rhinoceros poaching) contained a polish that may superficially detract from the raw immediacy of their messages.
At the time of this writing, there isn’t yet a way to buy, rent, or livestream this 28-minute short film. It may appear later on its official website. Watch a trailer here:
I’m Not a Robot | Victoria Warmerdam, 22 min., Belgium/Netherlands, Dutch
Nate’s Thoughts: A comedy turned quirky tragedy, I’m Not a Robot takes a commonplace computer frustration - CAPTCHA - and gives us a new twist on identity: what would you do if you learned something difficult about yourself? Are there people in your life who would help you or grow impatient with you? We see Lara’s world come crashing down, and I sympathized with her as those around her simply refuse to do so. There’s another recent film that covers similar territory, but I won’t say so as to spoil it. In both cases, science fiction helps us examine our world - in this case, the ramifications of our increasing obsession with AI.
James’s Thoughts: Among this year’s nominees only one, the Dutch I Am Not a Robot by Victoria Warmerdam, dares to allow us a giggle (about our shared Captcha frustrations) before becoming a haunting, disorienting feminist fable about a woman who learns that she’s a robot manufactured to be a man’s companion. It’s well shot and poignant but once making its initial joke (that could have easily been a Jim/Dwight prank on The Office), the film makes a hard right into disturbing with a side of black-as-night humor.
You can watch a trailer or watch the 22-minute short film on YouTube for free:
A Lien | Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz, 15 min., USA, English
Nate’s Thoughts: I was caught up in this powerful whirlwind from start to finish. Pronounced like “a lien on your home,” this short film with a play on words for a title does not play games with the subject at hand. While it’s not based on a particular real-life case, it is based on the dehumanizing and manipulative garbage tactics used by ICE when people are trying to do the right thing. In a category that dramatizes real situations happening across the world today, A Lien is the right film at the right time.
James’s Thoughts: Executive produced by Adam McKay (The Big Short), the15-minute film shows a married couple, Oscar and Sophia Gomez, arriving with their daughter at an immigration interview. During the interview ICE officers ambush the facility. It’s the most urgent drama, the one that’s taking place in our backyard.
You can listen to a 20-minute interview with the filmmakers on the “Freedom to Thrive” podcast the amazing and necessary National Immigration Law Center.
You can watch this 14-minute film for free on its official website. Watch a trailer here:
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent | Nebojsa Slijepcevic, 13 min., Croatia, Croatian
Nate’s Thoughts: The constantly moving handheld camera brings so much into view while dwelling in fog of dangerous mystery throughout The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent. Men who claim authority by rifle demand identification and are not afraid to disappear anyone who would question their motivations or methods. This topic is tackled with haunting precision in Best Picture and Best International Film nominee I’m Still Here. As for this short film, the display of power — and price — of stepping up leaves the viewer wondering what they would do. More accurately, likely wishing they would do what they should do.
James’s Thoughts: My favorite of the five proved to be the first in the Shorts program. The 13-minute Croation short, The Man Who Would Not Remain Silent by Nebojša Slijepčeviċ dramatizes the Štrpci Massacre of 1993 where 18 Muslims and 1 Croat were pulled from a train by a Serbian paramilitary group and slaughtered. The camera remains largely inside one train car, watching, waiting. We have no more information than the passengers. We’re given visual clues to cement the story in the early- to mid-nineties, but I’d wager that most of us hadn’t heard about the events depicted until we went home and looked the film up on Wikipedia. The handheld camerawork translates the fear, the uncertainty, and when the film ends, its abruptness takes us by surprise. A character is no longer in our car. The train starts moving again. Cut to black.
At the time of this writing, there isn’t yet a way to buy, rent, or livestream this 13-minute short film. It may appear later on its official website. Watch a trailer here:
Will Win: A Lien
Nate’s Thoughts: I think A Lien will win and it deserves a win. The way it tackles disgusting ICE tactic is gripping and part of our world today. Whether it should win because of the awareness it raises so effectively is one thing, but honestly it’s a captivating story that’s told very well. The rights of immigrants is near to my heart. My faith demands action in the name of justice to welcome the stranger. This film speaks to that stirring, and I’m grateful for it.
James’s Thoughts: I’m not going to sugarcoat it—the film might be too much for any of us struggling with our current political moment. Produced in 2023, the film couldn’t have predicted the 2025 timeline (as it specifically sets itself during the first Trump administration), but it’ll cut that much deeper for the Academy members judging these five entries. It’s the most urgent drama, the one that’s taking place in our backyard.
Should Win: The Man Who Could Not Keep Silent
Nate’s Thoughts: While A Lien hits the nail on the head, this cautionary tale speaks to our world’s situation today in a more subtle way. Some would call you an alarmist if you said armed people can drag you away if you don’t cooperate in the US today. But let's not fool ourselves; there are some itching to make that happen. If we want to go backward in time 20+ years to the terrors of a central European civil war-torn nation, one step is to ignore this film. I for one recommend it to everyone.
James’s Thoughts: The film felt alarmingly close to home, a promise of what is to come if certain overreaching powers remain unchecked. Despite this, the Croation film will almost certainly lose to the more immediately and forcefully relevant A Lien by David Cutler-Kreutz and Sam Cutler-Kruetz.
No matter the winner, I doubt anyone will take to the streets in protest. In this instance the cliché “it’s a win to get nominated” proves truer than not. We’re here writing about short films, talking about short films that wouldn’t otherwise get to play at theaters nationwide. It’s the purest and rarest form of cinema in our media-saturated times—the opportunity to walk into a darkened room not knowing much or anything about what’s about to be projected on the screen… and that’s always and forever a beautiful experience.
Special thanks to James Patrick of Cinema Shame!
James is a good writer. Check out all of this things:
James David Patrick is a Pittsburgh-based writer of fiction and non- and the host of the Cinema Shame podcast (download wherever you get your podcasts), a celebration of great movies—where guests tackle the unwatched movie that they really should have seen by now. He blogs about movies, music, and nostalgia at thirtyhertzrumble.com. There’s also a pile of music recommendations for the #365Songs project on Medium.com.
Your turn!
Seen any of these or want to see any? Share your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading, sharing, and subscribing. God’s peace and good movies to you!