My Year of Dicks

Road to the Oscars 2023. This short is nominated in 1 category and it´s animated short. Animated short is fun this year. It seems like a lot of wacky and weird things and not just the average. Now a lot has to happen to really make a short hit with me. This one really did it´s best and I liked what I saw. From the title and description, I was afraid it was going to be an artsy and vulgar short, but it was a pleasant and what felt like authentic story about how being a teenager sucks.

Pam is a young teenager telling you the story about how she is trying to lose her virginity and her year of dicks she´s been with.

The animation at display is a mixed and weird bag. The short shifts from a minimalistic and flat art style to different art styles in each chapter all depending on Pam's boyfriend. The art styles range from gothic art, neo, anime and some horrific art. Some art styles stand out more than others, I found chapter 1´s art style appealing and cool while chapter 3 had a really generic anime style. It´s interesting and fascinating how many different styles are used, and I was entertained all the way throughout. The main flat, boring and minimalistic art style reserved to real life while the rest is Pam´s fantasy, is unappealing to me. I think it´s that it´s too minimalistic. It doesn't really look like characters move and mouth flaps seem none existing at times. There is a lot to like here in terms of animation, but also a lot of things I didn't like.

This is a good idea for a story and the authenticity is the key to it. Without you believing in the character and their story, the short falls apart. It can seem a bit too predictable with the ending to an unrealistic degree, but I believe it. It´s a story about the anxiety, pressure, and terrible sexual encounters of our youth. Rather if it´s being scared for the first time, expecting romantic things, getting "the talk" with parents. It´s all relatable to a degree and it just feels authentic. I think everyone can find a small part of their past here or an encounter that relates just a little bit. Overall it´s about being a teenager sucks on so many levels.

There are some cool artistic choices and scenes here. The chapter two floor scene was cool. The fantasy scenes of chapter 1. The terrible talk scene in chapter 4. All shown and animated so well. Pam´s thoughts and feelings are shown beautifully through animation here and I really loved what it was going for.

The short is in 5 chapters and I think some stand out more than others. They also can feel like they undermined each other as the encounters don´t have a red thread but are different short stories from the same perspective. I forgot what happened in chapters I just watched, and while I enjoyed it, the short can feel a bit disjointed.

My year of dicks is both uncomfortable but also nice. It incapsulates the worst times and best times of being a teenager and dares to tell this story, a topic I feel like everyone is making jokes about now and also needs this more grounded look as it´s important to talk about no doubt. It´s a short that is uncomfortable, nice but mostly just an authentic tale of a young girls life.

Oscar predictions: I feel like this years animated short category is a bit broad and it´s hard to say who´s got the biggest chance. I liked this one more than the other I´ve seen but I think a short like this might be a bit too much for the academy, and as far as buzz goes, I don't think this is going to win. But hey, if it does, good on it.

I watched My Year of Dicks the other day as part of the Oscar Shorts. I thought since there was a minute-long screen saying "The following film is not suitable for children, viewer discretion is advised", it would be at least a little sexy. But no, I saw the whole twenty-four minutes of it and I was completely flaccid at the end. (I get that it was based on a memoir so they couldn't change too much.) Still, the actual plot was at least a bit intriguing and well-structured, the writing was okay, and the animation was pretty good and a bit surreal at times. Overall, I would recommend this, but not to someone trying to get a boner.

7/10.

We caught this on a showing of all five 2023 Oscar-nominated short animated films, and this was saved for last because it is definitely not for kids, kind of on the PG13/R borderline.

But it was also definitely a case of saving the best for last. The quest to lose one's virginity depicted is not a cartoon version of "Little Darlings", that's for sure. It's a raw, honest, and laugh out loud hilarious recounting of a coming of age, perhaps at a particular time and place, but one pretty familiar to me.

The story is told in five chapters, and there's equal parts humor and menace as we move through Pam, the protagonist's, quest to enter into what is perceived as the entry to adulthood. While it may not pass the abstention-only crowd's standards, the ultimate message is about trust and love, and the story is much more realistic than anything one could get away with in a straight-up regular film.

I particularly appreciated the change in animation style at key moments, which created some more laugh out loud moments as the visuals changed to reflect Pam's inner journey. The framing with what looks like real clips from a contemporary 1991 video diary was an excellent device for connecting the animated character with a real person.

Super hilarious squirm scene: "The Talk" with Dad. 10/10 to the writer for putting this one in there.

Very brave, and by far the best of the five nominated shorts, but I'd be shocked if it won; the Academy is still too white, too male, and too old to really appreciate this kind of film making.

Saw this at the Brooklyn Film Festival and loved it. Gorgeous, unexpectedly emotional animation; beautiful writing; wonderful vocal performances. I've been thinking about it since I watched it. A 90's story in suburban Texas, but the feelings and yearnings and disappointments are universal.

It's the story of a girl trying to get rid of her bothersome virginity, and the annoying assortment of boys who help and hinder her in her quest.... plus a long and disgusting lecture from her father after she dares to ask her mother about the subject. It rings true. It's simultaneously very funny and very sad. I kept laughing out loud at it, and it makes use of a variety of animation styles that reflect her mindset at the moment.

It was a weak year for nominees, and the usual two or three shorts added onto the nominees program -- which I invariably think are the best of the bunch -- were absent. But I didn't miss them. This is worth an award, even if it came with a parental warning for anyone who didn't see the title.