There are times during the Sonnet Project where I really don't connect with the way the sonnet is delivered within the short film; it is rare through over 100 films so far, but it does happen. With sonnet #32 I think it has happened again because watching it several times, I still did not get what it was precisely trying to do. The text speaks of loss and death, but yet the live that the ongoing love for the subject that lives beyond all the losses (or ex's?). In this short we have the delivery of a woman who appears to have lost her husband in a conflict. She sits around the fountain in Central park, with beautiful color and light, seeming to be happy, before placing her ring and walking away from the spot where the dogtags have previously been laid.
The first issue for me was that I do not read it like the subject is dead, but rather in an odd way to declare love, he says that the love he felt for others in the past is now all combined into this current love – so not that these people are lost to him, but somehow their relationships benefit this one? I am not 100% on that, as I found it a difficult one to read, however I do not think the connection to loss and death is as direct as the short tries to make it. The second issue is that I am not sure even what the film is doing. Aside from the final few shots making the connection, we have many non-shots under the text, with the actress hanging around smiling, observing life and being content. It offers little to the words over the top and even when the end provides some clarity, I still was a little uncertain about the connection to the text, and it felt a little like the decision had been taken to make it this way, but not quite worked out how to best link it consistently, or what to do for the vast majority of the running time.
Looks good and has very nice color, but the text, delivery, and visuals do not marry up as one would have liked, and ultimately I felt it lacked the accessibility and smartness of the better films, and it didn't convince me to go with what it was trying to do.
The first issue for me was that I do not read it like the subject is dead, but rather in an odd way to declare love, he says that the love he felt for others in the past is now all combined into this current love – so not that these people are lost to him, but somehow their relationships benefit this one? I am not 100% on that, as I found it a difficult one to read, however I do not think the connection to loss and death is as direct as the short tries to make it. The second issue is that I am not sure even what the film is doing. Aside from the final few shots making the connection, we have many non-shots under the text, with the actress hanging around smiling, observing life and being content. It offers little to the words over the top and even when the end provides some clarity, I still was a little uncertain about the connection to the text, and it felt a little like the decision had been taken to make it this way, but not quite worked out how to best link it consistently, or what to do for the vast majority of the running time.
Looks good and has very nice color, but the text, delivery, and visuals do not marry up as one would have liked, and ultimately I felt it lacked the accessibility and smartness of the better films, and it didn't convince me to go with what it was trying to do.