Oscar-Nominated Live-Action Shorts (2025) review
Of this year’s five nominees for Best Live-Action Shorts, only one of them looks like it belongs in a science fiction anthology. The other four all touch on real-world subjects: the preservation of endangered animals, child welfare amid an oppressive labor environment, a sudden passenger train halted with ethnic cleansing in mind, and the horrors of the complex immigration process in the U.S. It’s a better crop of live-action shorts than last year’s nominees.
Below are my thoughts on each of them, from Least to Best:
THE LAST RANGER
As the 28 minute short from director Cindy Lee opens, we see a young girl, Litha (Liyabona Mroqoza) admiring the wood carvings of local animals her father, Thabo (Makhaola Ndebele), has made. Litha joins a local woman, Khuselwa (Avumile Qongqo), who works as a game warden and shows her favorite of her father’s work, a carving of a rhinoceros. Khuselwa takes her to see a real white rhino out on the reserve, but their idyllic outing will turn tragic when poachers arrive and Litha must also face a terrible truth. Maybe it’s the somewhat overemotional score from John Powell, but this short wound up relying too much on melodrama for my liking. Set and filmed in the Amakhala Game Reserve Eastern Cape, South Africa, in 2021 during the height of the COVID pandemic when tourism had halted. “The Last Ranger” has an anti-poaching message was obvious and is a bit too on the nose, but those are reasons the Academy wound up nominating it though.
RATING: **1/2
I’M NOT A ROBOT
Have you ever been frustrated by CAPTCHA verification, when trying to access or update something online? You know the ones, where you have to click on all the boxes that have traffic lights or bicycles, what not. Well, the Dutch-language sci-fi short, “I’m Not a Robot” from writer/director Victoria Warmerdam, starts with that relatable task (and a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”) and then takes viewers on a fascinating existential trip. Lara (Ellen Parren) is experiencing such frustration while at work as she attempts to update a system in order to move forward with her work tasks. After multiple attempts, she receives a response that states there is an “87% chance she is a robot”, followed by a welcome to the “bot community”. When she calls her boyfriend, Daniël (Henry van Loon), to let him know of her concerns, she receives an unexpected response. It’s cool to see a sci-fi story in this category (or period; at the Oscars) and this “Black Mirror” vibe of the story is definitely intriguing. Considering we currently live in a world where A.I. is on our collective consciousness, this 22 min. short certainly feels as timely as any of the other subjects. I would love to see a feature-length anthology on this topic.
RATING: ***
THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT
Out of all the nominees in this category, this 13-minute Croation short, written and directed by Nebojša Slijepčević, is the one that made me wonder what more we could learn from a feature-length expansion. It depicts the true story of the kidnapping and crime in Štrpci (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on February 27, 1993, when the Beli Orlovi paramilitary untit dragged twenty-four Muslims from a passenger train traveling from Belgrade to Bar, and wound up killing them. The titular character is Croat Tomo Buzov (Dragan Mićanović), a passenger on the train who witnesses a commander (Alexis Manenti) drag out a young Muslim named Milan (Silvio Mumelaš) from the same train car he resides in. Dragan (Goran Dogdan) sits across from them and watches, keeping to himself out of fear. Buzov is the only one who stands out to the soldiers who are clearly abusing their authority. Despite taking place in the past, this is a short that sadly still feels quite relevant today. Since I knew nothing of the actual events, I’d be intrigued to see a feature flesh out all the details here.
RATING: ***
ANUJA
One of the more absorbing stories in this category is “Anuja”, a Netflix short written and directed by Adam J. Graves. It takes place in modern-day New Dehli and revolves around a whip-smart 9-year-old named Anuja (Sajda Pathan), who works in a garment factory with her 14-year-old sister, Palak (Ananya Shanbhag). They live alone and make ends meet despite the economic hardship of their environment. Anuja has a chance at a better life though, all she has to do is take an exam that will potentially earn her way into a prestigious boarding school. Anuja doesn’t realize what it all means and that it will take her away from Palak. “Anuja” sounds like it could be a downer of a story, but it’s not. In fact, it’s surprisingly full of life and sweet, vibrantly lensed by Akash Raje, and doesn’t needlessly hammer us with the subject of child labor. We know it’s bad, but a couple of resilient sisters remind us that strength and love can exist anywhere.
RATING: ***1/2
A LIEN
Out of all the nominees, this 14-minute short, written and directed by Sam and David Cutler-Kreutz is the most hard-hitting, urgent, and intense shorts. “A Lien” follows a New York family of three, Oscar Gomez (William Martinez), Sophia Gomez (Victoria Ratermanis), and their young daughter, Nina (Koralyn Rivera), as they arrive for their scheduled green card interview. They have everything in order and are trying to remain hopeful and calm. But when ICE agents show up, start listing off names and taking the hopeful away, the whole situation becomes one of panic and desperation. You can list off data and hear about policies about the complex immigration process all day and night, but until you put yourself in the shoes of those who are trying to take the right steps and yet are still separated, it just doesn’t become real. “A Lien” makes it all too real. The title is a play on the word “Alien”, showing that when the family is separated they have “A Lien” on life. But the only kind of life they dream for is the one where they’re with the ones they love. It may have been shot in 2021, but unfortunately, do to the recent executive orders signed by POTUS aimed at reshaping immigration policy, it feels like a horror story based on true events.
RATING: ****
