Audio Video News

This collection of short films doesn't have a clinker in the bunch. The three animated films range from the sweet fairy tale of My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirt and the hilariously fractured one of Three Misses to the almost mystical affirmation of When the Day Breaks—each well worth repeated viewings.

The live-action shorts are just as varied. Killing Joe is an atmospheric tale set in England in the early '60s and filmed in the kind of earnest black-and-white that was a hallmark of that era's best British films. The beautifully acted and plotted Major and Minor Miracles shows how a small town reacts to the news that a young farm boy may be a saint. Kleingold tells the tale of some coins passed from a businessman to a beggar and how they tragically awaken the beggar's need for human contact.

The winner here (it won the Oscar) is My Mother Dreams of the Satan's Disciples of New York—the tale of a Midwestern widow's first trip to the Big Apple and her discovery of what really goes on inside a motorcycle gang's clubhouse. Lovely—and gut-wrenchingly funny.