Cinephile № 878 “Oscar-Nominated Live-Action Shorts”

Recommendation: 4/5 SHOWTIME

Plot: “In “Two Distant Strangers”, cartoonist Carter James’ repeated attempts to get home to his dog are thwarted by a recurring deadly encounter that forces him to re-live the same awful day over and over again.”

Review: As in years past, I spent a Sunday watching all the films nominated in the Live-Action, Animated, and Documentary shorts categories. Also mirroring years past, I am highlighting my favorite in each category. Something I am doing differently this year is reviewing all three in the same post.

The Live-Action shorts category is stacked with tremendous films. In earnest, there are two that rise above the rest, but the film that will stick with me the longest is “Two Distant Strangers.”

The easiest way to describe this film is “Groundhog Day” meets the Black Lives Matter movement. After an evening spent away from home, Carter wants nothing more than to get home to his dog, but a violent confrontation with a police officer leaves him dead on a New York City sidewalk, or so we think.

Carter wakes from a dream to find himself stuck in an infinite time loop. Much like “Groundhog Day,” he then begins experimenting with ways out of this nightmare. I will not spoil the ending, but I will say this film does a tremendous…