Live-action shorts best among Oscar nominees

From Renaissance cameos to cinematic ones, the art of the miniature is a many-splendored thing. Shorts in film -- as in underwear -- are expected to contain something animated or organically active. Normally, the animation is more exciting than the live-action entries, but this year it's the opposite: The cartoons are disappointing, but all five of the live entries are good -- three of them, downright brilliant.

The 2012 Oscar mini-nominees for Best Live-Action Short Film are ...

"Pentecost" (Ireland), writer-director Peter McDonald: "It was an accident!" pleads Damian, the 11-year-old Irish altar boy, whose virtuosic swinging of a thurible (the Catholic incense burner) ends up "incensing" Father O'Toole in more ways than one. Censured for censer abuse, Damien (Scott Graham) gets a 3-month ban from watching soccer -- just when his beloved Liverpool team is competing for the European cup final. But the archbishop's impending visit for Pentecost Mass forces the parish and parents to give the kid one chance to redeem himself (and see that cup final) if he can serve godly interests rather than devilish sportive ones.

To that end, coach/deacon Andrew Bennett delivers a hilarious pre-Mass pep talk, a la Vincent Gardenia's locker-room speech in "Bang the Drum Slowly." Addressing the multiple altar boys one by one, he praises the sanctus bell-ringer ("best in Ireland!") and reminds the paten-holder to hold his Communion saucer exactly 11/2 inches under the chin, before finally getting to Damian, the thurifer:

"Now we all know you're here on a wild-card berth. The last time, you said you had an accident. The jury's still out on that one." But it'll all be OK if he comes through this time. "If not, you're pretty much finished in this town."

This airtight little 11-minute gem, celebrating the equally sacred rituals of sports and religion in Irish life, has a sublimely perfect ending.

"Time Freak" (U.S.), directors Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey: A dorky inventor (Michael Nathanson) has created a fantastic time-travel machine but gets bollixed up in trying to correct (and improve upon) past mistakes. He keeps redoing things, including a problematic encounter with his dry cleaner, in this sci-fi comic twist on going back to the past to fix the future. Says his best bud: "Dude, you've got to let some of this stuff go." It's just a little 10-minute, one-joke movie -- but a delicious one.

"Tuba Atlantic" (Norway), director Hallvar Witzo: This wonderful 26-minute piece opens with a doctor telling 70-year-old Oskar, "You don't have long to live." How long? "Six," says the doctor. "Months?" Oskar asks. "Days," is the reply. An Angel of Death arrives in the form of a cute blond teen with braces, to help him in the transition. But she's just a trainee and must consult her "Road to Death Handbook" -- a Norwegian version of Kubler-Ross' five stages ("Today you're in denial, tomorrow you'll be very angry ..."). Oskar focuses his rage on what he hates most: seagulls. He dispatches 'em with resourceful zest, by machine gun and dynamite. It's more therapeutic than listening to the bingo broadcasts from Radio Oslo. But what he really needs is to put things right with his estranged brother in New Jersey, who can't be reached by phone. Time is short. Can he get a message across the Atlantic by means of a giant tuba? It depends on which way the wind blows. Like life itself. Old Edvard Hægstad and young Ingrid Viken are superb. If Ingmar Bergman made seriocomic shorts, this would be it.

"Raju" (Germany/India), directors Max Zahle and Stefan Gieren: A German couple come to Calcutta to adopt an Indian orphan. Four-year-old Raju (Krish Gupta) is a thin little waif with oversized Keane eyes and an affectionate disposition. But on the first outing with his new dad, he disappears in a busy marketplace. "Will you find him?" the frantic parents ask police. Answer: "That depends on if he wants to be found." It's a 24-minute mini-tragedy -- realistic and wrenching.

"The Shore" (U.K.), director Terry George: Two boyhood best friends from the County Down coast of Northern Ireland were separated by time, space and love during The Troubles. Now, after 25 years, Jim (Ciaran Hinds) and Paddy (Conleth Hill) are reunited. This 30-minute tale abounds in bittersweet moments, including Paddy's visit to the local unemployment office: Asked if he has been offered any work in the past six months, he replies, "Oh, yes, the Queen asked me to form a government." Ultimately more sweet than bitter, it is a humble little tribute to Irish resilience and healing.

Animated short films
In the sub-par Class of 2012 crop of Animated Short Film nominees, only one is truly terrific -- namely:

"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" (U.S.), directors William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg: A catastrophic storm blows away the house and books of a Buster Keaton-esque young man -- as well as the young man himself. It transports them, like Dorothy and Toto, to a strange Oz-like place where books (or their remnants) live and breathe inside the old wooden library equivalent of an animal shelter. There, our hero settles into feeding, watering and doctoring them -- some of the books are on life-support systems. "I go round and round the mulberry bush," he muses, trying to figure out life's persistent questions -- through books: Where are the snows of yesteryear? Why does the weasel go "pop"? This charming, beautifully drawn, 14-minute film reminds me of my favorite (wistfully obsolete) bookplate: "Books Once Were Men."

"A Morning Stroll" (U.S.), director Grant Orchard: A man and a chicken cross paths on their morning strolls in Manhattan -- not once but in three different time periods: First, as black-and-white stick figures in 1959. Then in the groovy, iPhone colors of 2009. Finally, in retro-futuro-post-apocalyptic-horror versions of 2059. Yuk.

The two Canadian entries didn't do much for me, either. "Sunday," director Patrick Doyon: The primitively animated tale of a boy and a bunch of carrion crows on an outing. "Wild Life," director Amanda Forbis: A young Englishman, immigrating to Alberta to be a rancher, ends up sad and lonely on the lone prair-ee. A moody meteorological-metaphorical affair. Too much message, not enough medium.

Look for "Pentecost" and "Fantastic Flying Books" to win. You read it first here, if they do. If they don't, forget I mentioned it. Bottom line: These short-film Oscar nominees are tough to find and see in a real theater. This is your chance, kids -- thanks to Pittsburgh Filmmakers.