Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "The Danish Poet" is an animated short film that runs for 15 minutes and was made roughly 10 years ago. it won an Academy Award in the Animated Short Film category and was, so far, the biggest success for writer and director Torill Kove. Funnily enough, the movie was nominated for best short film at the Norvegian Film Awards (Amandas), but lost there. Kove is pretty successful with the Academy. Apart from her win here, she has two more nominations, one of these very recently.Still, I did not manage to appreciate this short film. It has a touch of everything: drama, comedy, romance, history, but I personally felt that it did not really deliver in any of these areas. In my personal case, it also did not help that I was not fond of the animation style at all. The narrator here is Liv Ullmann. This was one of her last projects, she is not too prolific anymore these days being way into her 70s. Ullmann is probably Norway's most known actress of all time, but don't worry: Her narration is in English (maybe because the NFB produced this) and the characters do not have any audible dialog. The only people I could maybe recommend this too would be Norwegians (or Danes) because of some of the historic references, but even these did not impress me. I am genuinely surprised and disappointed that this managed to beat the wonderfully moving "Little Matchgirl" back 10 years ago. Not recommended.

Polaris_DiB This is a very cute, very touching, and very loving little animated short. The best thing about it is its simplicity... it reminds me more of those PBS style animations or the Madeleine cartoons from when I was a kid. The storybook colors really aid in the warm, heartfelt feelings this movie gives off.The basic premise is that lonely people, through their need for connections, eventually set off chains of events that leads to "happily ever after" not only for themselves, but for other entities around them. It's romantic, but allows itself the opportunity to be silly and childish at times to help keep it from being sentimental or boring.I also like the small run-on gags that go throughout the short, such as the drunks on the cruise and the slipping cow. As a very minimalistic animation, every little thing, even in the background, has its own time and noteworthiness.--PolarisDiB

Robert Reynolds I've seen three of the five shorts nominated for the Oscar and this short is the best of the three I've seen. I'm not at all surprised that it was the winner. Since it would be difficult to discuss this short without going into at least a few details, let this serve as a spoiler warning: The basic idea behind this short regards the importance of random chance in all our lives. Narrated (very effectively) by Liv Ullman, with no other vocal work save hers, the story unfolds gradually and softly, with little touches of humor here and there. There are quite a few playful nudges at Danes and Norwegians throughout.The story centers on a Danish poet and his hit-and-miss relationship with a Norwegian farmer's daughter. The relationship has a good many twists and turns, with a logic chain made up of all sorts of random events which change the course of various lives. Barking dogs, inattentive mail carriers, slippery boards, a funeral and hairstyles all take their turn at changing things, all leading to the marvelous conclusion.This short is available (on DVD) from the National Film Board of Canada and is well worth watching. Highly recommended.

Peter L. Petersen (KnatLouie) I know Susanne Bier and Søren Pilmark were also nominated for an Oscar in 2007 and didn't win, but this movie won instead, making it a good substitute, since the story is about a Dane.The story is about a Danish poet, Kasper Jørgensen, who lives in Copenhagen, but one day runs out of creativity and goes to Norway on holiday to search for inspiration. There he finds a girl whom he falls in love with, but alas, she is engaged to be married against her will with a local farmer who is the son of her fathers best friend. Instead she vows to never cut her hair until she can be with Kasper again, a promise that she keeps (making her hair look like Marge's from "The Simpsons"). And the story continues from that point..I'm not gonna spoil anything else, but it's all about chance and coincidences.Now, the animation itself isn't that great, although it is very different from how "normal" cartoons looks like, reminds me of the Alfons Åberg-cartoons (or Alfie Atkins as he's called in English).I haven't seen the competition, so I can't say if it was worthy of winning, but it was certainly a very good short movie, with a classical love-story in a new environment. There were many funny details, like the people on the ferry between Denmark and Norway only being drunk (Swedes?) or backpackers, and that the postal office never can be trusted (just like in real life).. thank God for E-mails!