Live-action shorts best among Oscar nominees
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"Pentecost," by Irish writer-director Peter McDonald, is an "airtight little 11-minute gem." -
"Sunday" was directed by Patrick Doyon of Canada.
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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.
- Rating: PG-13 in nature for subject matter and subtitles.
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."
First Published February 10, 2012 12:00 am
