‘Utterly overwhelmed’: British writer-director’s short film earns Oscar nod

Lee Knight says accolade for A Friend of Dorothy, based on friendship with neighbour, sends message to never give up A writer-director from Stanmore in Middlesex whose short film has been nominated for an Oscar has said he feels “utterly overwhelmed” by the accolade. Lee Knight’s film A Friend of Dorothy , starring Miriam Margolyes and Stephen Fry, is in the running for best live action short. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/e4cqUGs via IFTTT

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On review – bijou stop-motion animation will win you over

What should be an irritating story about a tiny talking shell with shoes trying to find his family is somehow funny and beguiling

Here is a genuine oddity: a weird little hothouse flower of a film that looks as if it might crumple at the slightest breath of wind – but is actually very resilient. It’s a quirky stop-motion animation, developed from a series of online short films, whose comedy frequency takes a little time to tune into. You have to wait a bit to hear its batsqueak, and before this happens there is a real and understandable danger that you will simply find it insufferably annoying. The film appears to exist in the Venn diagram-overlap between twee and hipster, which isn’t for everyone – but let it grow on you, and there is a real sweetness and gentleness in its absurdity, a savant innocence and charm.

The idea is that the film’s director, Dean Fleischer Camp, is staying in an Airbnb after the collapse of his marriage; this house itself has become available for rental because the couple who own it have split up. Fleischer Camp becomes aware that there is someone else in the house: a tiny mollusc called Marcel (voiced by Jenny Slate) with a single, blinking human eye and dinky little human shoes. Marcel is a calm, childlike figure who talks with absolute candour in his tiny voice to Dean about his own problems and Dean’s.

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