BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022) | Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu

 5/5

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is a magnificent, moving film about what it’s like to exist in liminal spaces – being from one country but living in another, striving to be an artist but retain your journalistic integrity, holding onto your grief while trying to let it go, remaining on threshold of life and death… The use of surrealism as a stylistic choice allows the film to bring this feeling of dislocation to life in a powerful, captivating way as it interrogates the nature of truth, myth, and the stories we tell ourselves and others. This is a film that is keenly aware of the class privilege that allows its main character to traverse borders freely, yet because of his country of origin it also understands the prejudice and racism he faces regularly when coming into the United States. This is undoubtedly Iñárritu’s most accomplished film – and certainly his most personal – and he seems willing to be honest and vulnerable in a way that he hasn’t allowed himself to be in other works, revealing fears and truths that go deeper the surface-level machismo of his previous efforts.

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Sierra (2022) | Directed by Sander Joon

 3.5/5

Sander Joon’s Sierra is a completely wild and unhinged work of animation about a son trying to connect to his controlling and manipulative father. The animation is playful, surreal, and chaotic – yet it’s always fun and engaging. There’s something so sad and truthful about the ways the son remakes and transforms himself to please his father but is unable to change back once he has fully become what his father has always wanted him to be. And it’s something of a small cinematic miracle that, in spite of how dark and tragic the film’s trajectory, it still manages to end on a somewhat hopeful note.

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Night Ride (2020) | Directed by Eirik Tveiten

 3.5/5

Eirik Tveiten’s Night Ride is such a charming short film, one with a lovely sense of discovery as the main character fumbles her way through her attempt to drive the tram she has accidentally stolen. The film uses the confines of the tram exceptionally well – isolating our main character from her unintended passengers and keeping the incident of harassment she tries to ignore just over her shoulder. It’s so moving to see a film that encourages active involvement when harassment occurs, and the character’s approach to challenging fragile and toxic masculinity is absolutely delightful.

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Holding Moses (2022) | Directed by Rivkah Beth Medow

 1/5

Rivkah Beth Medow’s Holding Moses is a short documentary about the mother of a disabled child, but it is unfortunately another film that prioritizes the experiences of a parent or caregiver rather than the experiences of the disabled child themselves. The film spends too much of its time focusing on what the parent has lost in caring for their child, too much time on the parent learning to love their child, too much time on what the parent has had to overcome… so that by the end of the film it paints them as a saintly model of parenthood for all to follow. This portrait of disability also sanitizes the child’s disability so that he becomes a caricature of the sweet, disabled, angelic child. It’s an insensitive, self-serving short documentary.

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Ice Merchants (2022) | Directed by João Gonzalez

 4.5/5

João Gonzalez’s Ice Merchants is a lovely work of short animation, filled with intricate illustrations and beautiful designs. The use of repetition throughout the film is so effective as it sets up for the film’s poignant conclusion. While grief is at the core of this short, it exists in the background as an ever-present emotion, revealing itself in small moments that build slowly to the film’s emotional finale. This is a gorgeous little film that takes you by surprise, that you can’t help but love the more you consider it – from the simple way movement is captured to the film’s heart and soul.

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Black Slide (2021) | Directed by Uri Lotan

 3/5

Uri Lotan’s Black Slide is a beautiful and richly animated short film about a child coping with the death of a parent, but the jumps between past and present get a bit too jumbled within such a compressed timeframe. The film’s central theme about toughening up to face your fears is a disappointment in such a gorgeously crafted film – especially since it feels so psychologically inaccurate to what this child actually needs in the midst of his loss. However, the final moments are truly beautiful and lovely, a stunning visualization of moving through grief.

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My Year of Dicks (2022) | Directed by Sara Gunnarsdóttir

 4/5

Sara Gunnarsdóttir’s My Year of Dicks is a very funny, painfully honest coming-of-age short about a teenage girl looking to lose her virginity. The variation in animation styles used throughout the short is absolutely wonderful and helps differentiate each chapter and the different boys she dates over the course of the titular year, with each style perfectly representing the relationship and her own inner state of being. It’s charming, honest, and oh-so-true true to the experiences of growing up (especially in the ’90s) and of what it is to explore your sexuality for the first time.

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Shut Up and Paint (2022) | Directed by Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallis

 4.3/5

Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallis’s Shut Up and Paint is a compelling short doc about the artist Titus Kaphar and the crossroads he finds himself at as his work is selling for exorbitant sums of money but isn’t being seen by Black audiences and isn’t being sold to Black homes or Black institutions. This is an insightful rumination on just how white the traditional art market truly is, and how hard it is for Black artists to work within the art world and reach Black audiences. There are also essential conversations throughout about the ways art institutions attempt to muzzle activist-artists. In addition to the film’s piercing and thoughtful interviews, it’s also comprised of lovely breaks for poetry and a behind-the-scenes look at Kaphar’s first film project – a work designed to help his art reach more viewers. This is a wonderful short documentary.

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The Garbage Man (2022) | Directed by Laura Gonçalves

 2.5/5

Laura Gonçalves’s The Garbage Man is a sweet story about an eccentric, generous, and warm man, told through a series of reflections from his family. The animation is pleasant and flows nicely from one anecdote to the next. However, the narrative is a bit formless. The anecdotes meander and the film doesn’t really give us much in the way of a good entry point or endpoint. It’s a sweet film filled with loving stories, but there just isn’t much for us, as the audience, to hold onto.

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Stranger at the Gate (2022) | Directed by Joshua Seftel

 4/5

Joshua Seftel’s Stranger at the Gate is an incredibly compelling short documentary about one man’s journey from hate to love. Seftel wisely focuses on the community that accepted this would-be domestic terrorist and contrasts their open acceptance with his wife’s tactic of hoping that his anger and rage would simply get better on their own. This is a film that rests on the strengths of its strong interviews and wise editing choices. There may be some questionable b-roll footage throughout, but when the rest of the film is so strong, that’s a minor complaint.