Review: All 15 of the Oscar-nominated short films, reviewed

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The nominated Oscar shorts come in three categories — and a lot of subjects, styles and temperaments.It’s further proof that an award dictated by length needn’t be bound by anything else.

Awards The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were announced Thursday morning, with ‘Sinners’ leading the field with 16 total nominations.Here’s the full list of 2026 Oscar nominees.In the live-action category, a mixed bag of approaches — some inspired by classic literature — are burnished by inspired performances.

Lee Knight’s “A Friend of Dorothy” may be a tad on the nose about the cultural and emotional impact of a lonely London widow on a closeted teenaged boy.But leads Miriam Margolyes and Alistair Nwachukwu practically shimmer with humor and warmth.

“Jane Austen’s Period Drama,” a loving tweak of the writer’s oeuvre from Steve Pinder and Julia Aks (who also stars), is essentially a one-joke calling card to make feature comedies and it should do the job.Its cast is exactly the sprightly ensemble needed to land its what-if laughs.Two others just miss the mark in terms of bringing their tensions to powerful resolutions yet benefit from who the camera adores.

Meyer Levinson-Blount’s “Butcher’s Stain,” centered on a flimsy accusation against a friendly Palestinian butcher in an Israeli market, undercuts its gripping story with lackadaisical filmmaking and an unnecessary subplot, but lead Omar Sameer is commanding.The black-and-white future shock “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” directed by Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh, is an uneven Euro-art bath of unrealized intimacy and casual violence — kissing is punishable by death, slapping is currency — but is given exquisite tautness by the elegant, unrequited swooniness of stars Zar Amir and Luana Bajrami.Then there’s my favorite, Sam A.

Davis’ likely winner “The Singers,” from Ivan...