Henry (III) (2011) User Reviews

Very Interesting and Well-Done Short - Great Use of the Format

[nelsong · 8/10 · 14 February 2013]

Having seen all 5 of the 2013 Oscar-nominated live-action shorts, my opinion is that this should be a two-horse race between "Death of a Shadow" and this film, "Henry". Just like a previous reviewer, I have to give the nod to "Henry" by a nose.

I particularly enjoyed the approach this short took to the subject matter. The title character is suffering from Alzheimer's. (I guess that's a spoiler, but you'll figure that out 30 seconds in.) The interesting twist is that the film is portrayed from Henry's point of view. That means you get to experience his confusion, delusion, and memory loss first-hand. I thought the film was extremely effective in making the viewer feel, in some sense, as if he/she is suffering the effects of Alzheimer's - an amazing feat, if you think about it.

I also think this was a perfect treatment for a short film. Often, you'll read folks judging shorts based on which ones they'd like to see expanded to full-length films. I'd rather judge them based on which ones work best specifically AS shorts. This one fits that criterion perfectly. 90 minutes of Henry's struggle would be tiring and repetitive. 20 minutes is the optimal duration to get the message across.

This is a great short - well worth seeking out.

Great lead performance, very touching

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 14 March 2016]

"Henry" is a Canadian French-language film from 5 years ago and it is very essential that you understand the dialogs in here, so make sure you get subtitles if you are not fluent in French. The writer and director is fairly young filmmaker Yan England and he managed an Oscar nomination with his effort here. However, the big reason for the film's success is lead actor Gérard Poirier. It is very obvious he has many decades experience as he hits all the right notes playing a man who suffers from Alzheimer and also misses his deceased wife.- A truly sad portrayal, but it never feels like forced tear-jerk stuff, always authentic. Early on, there are some difficulties with the writing as England maybe wanted to put too much into this short film ad lost a bit focus, but it's nothing that causes severe damage to the film overall. A really good movie and it is very disappointing to see it lost to the extremely mediocre "Curfew". I highly recommend "Henry", especially to those who loved Haneke's "Amour".

Not just the best of this year's Oscar nominated shorts, but among the best short films I have ever seen!!

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 3 February 2013]

I just got back from seeing the five Oscar-nominated live action shorts and was pleasantly surprised. After seeing a mediocre batch of animated shorts yesterday, I was so happy to see that the live action films are among the very best I've ever seen nominated.

Of the five films, two are definite standouts and should battle each other for the Oscar--"Henry" and "Death of a Shadow". While I adored BOTH these films and would love to see both win, if I was forced to pick the very best, I'd say "Henry"--but only by a smidgen. Both films are among the best short films I have ever seen--and I probably have reviewed more shorts than anyone on IMDb.

My daughter and I both agreed that although the film is supposed to be a bit of a mystery as to what's happening, we BOTH almost immediately knew what the mystery was. My daughter thought that impacted her enjoyment--I didn't really care because the film was made so remarkably well. The camera-work was brilliant, the acting by Gérard Poirier was even more brilliant and the the story, though a bit predictable, was MAGNIFICENT.

Oddly, right now on IMDb, "Henry" only has a score of 6.0--and I have absolutely no idea why. It's brilliant...but just be sure to have a lot of Kleenex nearby--you'll need it.

UPDATE: Well, the Oscar folks didn't seem to agree with me and instead gave the award to "Curfew"--a very good film, though I still think "Henry" was better.