The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013: Live Action

88 minutes | Rated NR

Shawn Christensen's hackneyed drama Curfew, telling the story of a suicidal drug addict who decides to get clean after spending the afternoon with his precocious niece, is easily the worst of these five Oscar-nominated shorts (it also won). Yan England's Henry and Tom Van Avermaet's Death of a Shadow are intriguing conceptually but pack too much plot into brief running times. My favorite is Buzkashi Boys, Sam French's affectionate coming-of-stage story about two young Afghani boys who dream of becoming famous athletes; an exceptional story of fate versus choice, it features some outstanding location photography of Kabul. By Drew Hunt