Movie review: Oscar-nominated, live-action short films to air in Oklahoma City

And isn't that what movies should do?

This year's Academy Award-nominated live-action short films come from all over the world, and their makers are fearless and forceful in pulling audiences into gripping narratives that are both specific and universal.

Set in war-torn Somalia, “Asad” centers on a young boy (Harun Mohammed) who must choose between sailing into a traditional career as a fisherman or taking up automatic weapons and following his brother into modern-day piracy. While many of his neighbors in his small village believe Asad has been cursed with bad luck, aged fisherman Erasto (Ibrahim Moallim Hussein) predicts the boy will someday make an impressive catch. Writer/director Bryan Buckley's coming-of-age fable has a surprising and blessedly uplifting ending made all the more poignant by the credits, which reveal that the cast is made up of Somali refugees and asylum seekers.

Another story about poor, war-weary boys pondering their futures — unfortunately, not one film in this category is told from a female perspective — “Buzkashi Boys” vividly depicts life in present-day Afghanistan. Shot on location in Kabul, the sobering story trails best friends Ahmad (Jawanmard Paiz), a daring orphaned street urchin, and Rafi (Fawad Mohammadi), the reserved but rebellious son of a stern local blacksmith (Wali Talash). While both dream of riding to glory in the national sport of Buzkashi — a brutal polo-like game played on horseback and incorporating the carcass of a slain goat — Rafi must balance his boyhood ambitions with his responsibility to continue the family business.

On the other end of the age spectrum, Gerard Poirier gives a compelling lead turn in “Henry” as an elderly pianist whose life turns tumultuous when his wife suddenly disappears. Although it quickly becomes clear where the French-Canadian drama is going, filmmaker Yan England manages to maintain an air of mystery that enhances the heartrending emotion.