"Le pupille" or "The Pupils" is a co-production between Italy and the United States from 2022 and this is one of the nominees in the live action short category at the 2023 Oscars. People say that this film has a decent chance to win the category, may even be the frontrunner, but I am not so sure about that, even if I liked the outcome as you can see from my rating. I watched all five nominees (plus the five from the animated short category) and I would say that this is probably my favorite from the bunch. It really had a lot of creativity to it without a doubt. The problem I see here is maybe that the subject is simply not relevant enough. But let's look at the basics first. If we ignore for a second that we have a previous winner direct another of the nominees, this short film here is the one that brings the big names. Alice Rohrwacher is the director and one of three writers and she has been an established filmmaker for years. About her co-writers Covino and Gotcher I cannot say too much, but I see that Gotcher has been prolific over the years too and that this is not the first time that Rohrwacher has collaborated with Covino. The lead actress is another Rohrwacher, namely Alba who is as prolific in acting as Alice is in directing. You can also add Valeria Bruni Tedeschi who has scored so many awards wins and nominations over her long career and it is nice to see actors like these perform in short movies. The genre deserves it.
With very few exceptions like the stunning Uccelli (Fernanda), the cast is mostly little girls. The story is set at an orphanage from beginning to end and the kids seem to have beautiful souls, but they are held back by the very religious woman running the orphanage. The children are humiliated on several occasions by her. I mean she does not hurt them physically, at least we do not find out about that, but you can call it mental abuse in a way I suppose. The delicious red cake is literally a depiction of the girls' beautiful spirits coming to life. You see a drawn version of the cake on the film's poster, but of course in the movie itself the cake exists and is part of the art direction and set decoration you could say. The production designs. It is also funny to see how the children as small as they are can barely look at the cake standing on the table. And it definitely looked so awesome there in the film that I would have almost killed for a bite of it. Great stuff. What do we have in film history? Red shoes, red balloons, red bikes? Now we have a memorable red cake. The girl's wit was awesome too, how she uses Rohrwacher's character's words against her in order to find a way to get her hands on the awesome cake and she is also a nice one as she shares it in the end with all the other kids who also live in the orphanage. There is no jealousy. And well, the rest of the cake is then given to a minor character at the end and sadly an accident happens and it falls to the ground, but they still eat it, so all is good. If you are looking for meaningful metaphors, symbolisms etc. There, don't look too long. The girls even sing the words that there is no such thing. It's just coincidence that happens and cannot really be predicted. It was all in a funny playful way there.
I really enjoyed the music here a lot. I also liked how at the beginning the girls told us the names of Rohrwacher for example with their cute voices. The setting and background here may be a bit on the dark side, but I would say that it is still a cute and uplifting and charming film. Right what you would expect when reading that Disney is in charge of a live action short film. That does not happen a lot at all. Maybe if we include some really old documentary shorts, then it was the case there too, but these are not action in the sense of acting anyway. I guess this is pretty much it then. But I still have to say that I also liked the comedic moment when we find out what the lady who brought the cake really wanted the orphan girls to pray for. Rather jealous than tragedy was the background there, but it was kinda hilarious. If this short film wins the Academy Award this upcoming weekend, I will surely not complain. The name Alfonso Cuarón who I think was a producer here on the nomination ballot surely helps. Vamos and forza pupille! I would say it would be really cool if they bring the kids to the Academy Awards then, but I guess the evening house are too late and also of course that this is not the Italian Film Awards, but takes place thousands of kilometers away. Also wonder if these child actresses were/are also orphans in real life, but I think not. Anyway, I am still curious if we see some of the girls in future film projects at some point, maybe even as grown-up actresses. This would also direct some attention to this film here then I guess. Never a bad thing. For now, go give this comfortable over half an hour a watch. I recommend it.
With very few exceptions like the stunning Uccelli (Fernanda), the cast is mostly little girls. The story is set at an orphanage from beginning to end and the kids seem to have beautiful souls, but they are held back by the very religious woman running the orphanage. The children are humiliated on several occasions by her. I mean she does not hurt them physically, at least we do not find out about that, but you can call it mental abuse in a way I suppose. The delicious red cake is literally a depiction of the girls' beautiful spirits coming to life. You see a drawn version of the cake on the film's poster, but of course in the movie itself the cake exists and is part of the art direction and set decoration you could say. The production designs. It is also funny to see how the children as small as they are can barely look at the cake standing on the table. And it definitely looked so awesome there in the film that I would have almost killed for a bite of it. Great stuff. What do we have in film history? Red shoes, red balloons, red bikes? Now we have a memorable red cake. The girl's wit was awesome too, how she uses Rohrwacher's character's words against her in order to find a way to get her hands on the awesome cake and she is also a nice one as she shares it in the end with all the other kids who also live in the orphanage. There is no jealousy. And well, the rest of the cake is then given to a minor character at the end and sadly an accident happens and it falls to the ground, but they still eat it, so all is good. If you are looking for meaningful metaphors, symbolisms etc. There, don't look too long. The girls even sing the words that there is no such thing. It's just coincidence that happens and cannot really be predicted. It was all in a funny playful way there.
I really enjoyed the music here a lot. I also liked how at the beginning the girls told us the names of Rohrwacher for example with their cute voices. The setting and background here may be a bit on the dark side, but I would say that it is still a cute and uplifting and charming film. Right what you would expect when reading that Disney is in charge of a live action short film. That does not happen a lot at all. Maybe if we include some really old documentary shorts, then it was the case there too, but these are not action in the sense of acting anyway. I guess this is pretty much it then. But I still have to say that I also liked the comedic moment when we find out what the lady who brought the cake really wanted the orphan girls to pray for. Rather jealous than tragedy was the background there, but it was kinda hilarious. If this short film wins the Academy Award this upcoming weekend, I will surely not complain. The name Alfonso Cuarón who I think was a producer here on the nomination ballot surely helps. Vamos and forza pupille! I would say it would be really cool if they bring the kids to the Academy Awards then, but I guess the evening house are too late and also of course that this is not the Italian Film Awards, but takes place thousands of kilometers away. Also wonder if these child actresses were/are also orphans in real life, but I think not. Anyway, I am still curious if we see some of the girls in future film projects at some point, maybe even as grown-up actresses. This would also direct some attention to this film here then I guess. Never a bad thing. For now, go give this comfortable over half an hour a watch. I recommend it.