Back to Uptown and its theaters

22.02.12

Also, for the purposes of today’s column, it remains one of the best neighborhoods in which to go see a movie.

Once a year, for one week only, Uptown’s Lagoon Cinema hosts one of my favorite cinematic events of the year: playing the Oscar-nominated short animated films , as well as a few bonus “highly commended” selections. If you’re not in the habit of seeing this every year (though, based on the crowd at the Lagoon, many of you are), now’s the time to start. Obviously, it’s a great way to get the upper hand in your office Oscar pool. But more important, it’s the best way to experience the widest range of cinema possible in one sitting – you get sweet, Disney-ish stuff aimed at the kids, you get the weirdest experimental tangents imaginable, and you get everything in between.

That said, unfortunately the selection this year is largely disappointing. Of the five films nominated, the two American films in particular are quite weak – they’re several decibels louder than the other selections, and whiplash between dumb slapstick and maudlin slop (even, surprisingly, Pixar’s entry). Worse yet, they seem especially artless when put side-by-side with the two Canadian selections. Patrick Doyon’s “ Dimanche / Sunday ” is crude, sweet, and bizarre in equal measures. And “ Wild Life ,” by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, knocks me right out. Billed not-quite-tongue-in-cheek as “a Western,” it’s an animated mock-documentary about the life of a diffident English settler in the prairies of Alberta in the early 1910s, each frame hand-painted in gouache. It’s reminiscent of the work of painter Maira Kalman , and it’s breathtaking. You can watch it online, but do yourself a favor and see it in the theater this week. There’s more artistry and imagination in the 13 minutes of “Wild Life” than in all nine Best Picture nominees combined. That sounds like hyperbole, I know, but come on, “War Horse”?

Source: MinnPost.com