Recommendation: 5 Stars, SHOWTIME

Every year, I host an Oscar party. My partner and I gather 10-15 friends for food, cocktails, ballots, and talk of films. Every year, I am the only person in the room who has managed to venture out and see the Live Action Short films. Every year, I wish people would make an effort to see these films.

When “Dekalb Elementary” begins, you are under the impression a school shooting is about to take place. Over the next twenty minutes, more tension is packed than most feature films.

“The Silent Child” flips the script on what it means to be a deaf child in the public-school system. Once the credits roll, you will be marching in the streets.

“My Nephew Emmett,” tells the story of Emmett Till who allegedly whistled at a married, white woman in Mississippi in 1955. For it, he was introduced to southern justice and the Civil Rights Movement began. It is a heartbreaking tale and still timely to this day.

“The Eleven O’clock” is a hilarious short about a psychiatrist meeting a patient who suffers from delusions of being a psychiatrist. With each line, all I could think of was Abbot and Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine.

The final film was “Watu Wote/All of Us.” It is a German film set in Kenya about the distrust existing between Muslims and Christians. It is gut-wrenching, harrowing, and possesses the ability to restore your faith in humanity.

Taken together, these five films are some of the best of the entire artform. They are stories of the human condition, the misery, and some of the joy to be found in the ridiculousness of it all. For this and so much more, I cannot recommend these five films enough.

Be good to each other,

Nathan

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