I patronized a movie theater on Saturday, an older, well-kept theater downtown that is about a six minute walk from my apartment. It was the first time I’d set foot inside a movie theater since before the pandemic shutdowns almost four years ago when I watched Parasite after it won Best Picture and got a broader theatrical release. There were a few years before that during which I watched the live action short nominees and such showings would be the only films I’d watch in a theater for the year. It’s a limited release sort of thing that never existed in the small town where I grew up, but each three of the short-form categories (animated, live action, and documentary) get released as a single category “movie” every year.

One of the benefits of watching a collection of short films is that there is a built-in hedge in the experience. If one of them isn’t good, you only have to sit through a few more minutes before another one comes on. Or you can go to the bathroom without fear of missing anything important. I appreciate that part of the experience as a buttress against the sunk cost fallacy and the prospect of sitting in a theater for two hours watching the same bad film play out just because you spent the money to buy the ticket. I haven’t watched any of the animated ones so I don’t know if they’re appropriate for children, but if they are then it could be a great option if they get restless watching full-length movies.

This year I’ll go at least twice to the movies. I’ve purchased a ticket to see the live action shorts next week, but this was a Saturday matinee showing of the documentary nominees. I won’t review the films here individually, but I will say that I wasn’t that impressed with any of them. I trust that the live action shorts will be better. I’ve already seen one on Netflix (before it was nominated) and it easily trumped the quality of the documentaries. I’m hopeful that the rest will match it.