If Anything Happens I Love You (2020)

I was about to watch yet another Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode when Netflix played the trailer to If Anything Happens I Love You. I had never heard of it before so, before venturing into another dreadful film, I googled it. While the score was high — 8/10 on IMDb —, it was the storyline that convinced me I should have given this short animated feature a chance. And I'm glad I did because it's one of the saddest and heartbreaking and yet beautiful and touching shorts I've ever seen. 

Bao (2018)

I went seeing Incredibles 2 about a month ago and you know what stuck with me the most? Bao, the short animated film that preceded the movie. Not only because it's the first short film at Pixar directed by a woman, Domee Shi, but because it's a small masterpiece. 

The film follows a Chinese-Canadian woman. She just made dumplings for her husband and she, but he eats in a hurry and leaves for work, leaving her sad and alone. When she is about to eat her Boazi, one of them comes to life, it grows into a little dough boy and she begins to raise it as a son.

Hotel Chevalier (2007)

Months ago, I watched Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited for the first time and, as I was expecting, I loved it. Thanks to Steven from Surrender to the Void I learnt about Hotel Chevalier, a short film prologue to The Darjeeling Limited. 

In this short, Jack (Jason Schwartzman), one of the Whitman brothers, is lying on a bed, wearing a robe and ordering from room service. His peace is disrupted when he gets a call from his ex-girlfriend (Natalie Portman) who informs him she'll be there in 30 minutes. He tides the room, draws a bath, changes his clothes and puts on Peter Sarstedt's Where Do You Go to My Lovely.

Lou (2017)

While Coco got the apparently obnoxious (I haven't seen it yet) Olaf's Frozen Adventure, the apparently obnoxious Cars 3 (yes, you guessed it right, I haven't seen this one either. And I'll probably never watch it) got Lou. Now, I don't usually watch shorts but I made an exception for this one because of the Oscar nomination (I watched this while I was waiting for the ceremony to start). 

Lou is a "monster" made from the unclaimed items in the lost-and-found box in a kindergarten playground. Every day, Lou picks up the toys the kids left behind and sets them out on the playground for their owners to find. Then one day a bully starts taking other kids' toys and puts them in his backpack so Lou peacefully battles him to return the stolen toys.

Six Shooter (2004)

I never watch short movies. There isn't a reason behind it, I just don't. But when I had the idea of writing a piece for Martin McDonaugh's birthday, I figured I should watch Six Shooter, his Oscar-winning short film. 

Six Shooter tells the story of a recently widowed man, Donnelly (Brendan Gleeson), who founds himself on a train in the same carriage as a couple (David Wilmot and Aisling O'Sullivan) who has just lost their son for coth death and an annoying and cynical young man (Rúaidhrí Conroy) who arouses his fellow passengers with rude and offensive behavior.