When I read this sonnet I wasn't quite sure how to hear it in my head. The content makes it sound almost like a chastising of the subject, with the writer bemoaning that all his work is so samey that you would instantly recognize it as his – and that the blame for this is that he always writes about the muse. I wasn't totally sure if this was a situation the writer was happy with or not, or if he resented his subject for this aspect of his work. The film is clear though and presents its interpretation well.
In the film there is no sight of the subject to which the main character speaks, but rather we have an older man sitting at an empty bar, looking up from his work (poetry we presume), unable to really find anything different to say. The lack of context for his speaking did bother me a little at first, but quickly and from then on I settled in easily and found the short roundly enjoyable. The use of the older man and the barroom gives a nice sense of warmth to the film, but also the sense of gentle acceptance and bemusement that comes from reflecting upon oneself in a bar with the benefit of years of life and experience. Of course in real life if you approach the old man by himself at the end of the bar, you may not always get this, but in the film we have, and I found it warming and engaging in the way the sonnet was delivered.
Cariou gets the performance balanced very well and I found his voice and manner drew me into his delivery and his whole performance gave me the context I needed – not because I understood the other party or situation, but because he made me understand how he as a character related to it. Technically the film helps him because it makes very good use of the darkness of the bar – it is velvety and sort of wraps round the actor and the camera in a way that encourages mellow reflection, and as such it supports Cariou as he plays it this way. The background voices at the start and the end are good at setting the surroundings, but perhaps are a little bit too loud on the soundtrack – particularly those over the end credits since I felt quite lulled by the film and then a little jarred when they came back.
I have tended to prefer the films in this project where we have narrative or situational context to help add context or update the words for the modern viewer to understand, whereas this film is more of a straight performance of the sonnet text. It works very well though and I enjoyed all of the elements of it aside from some that were really insignificant quibbles.
In the film there is no sight of the subject to which the main character speaks, but rather we have an older man sitting at an empty bar, looking up from his work (poetry we presume), unable to really find anything different to say. The lack of context for his speaking did bother me a little at first, but quickly and from then on I settled in easily and found the short roundly enjoyable. The use of the older man and the barroom gives a nice sense of warmth to the film, but also the sense of gentle acceptance and bemusement that comes from reflecting upon oneself in a bar with the benefit of years of life and experience. Of course in real life if you approach the old man by himself at the end of the bar, you may not always get this, but in the film we have, and I found it warming and engaging in the way the sonnet was delivered.
Cariou gets the performance balanced very well and I found his voice and manner drew me into his delivery and his whole performance gave me the context I needed – not because I understood the other party or situation, but because he made me understand how he as a character related to it. Technically the film helps him because it makes very good use of the darkness of the bar – it is velvety and sort of wraps round the actor and the camera in a way that encourages mellow reflection, and as such it supports Cariou as he plays it this way. The background voices at the start and the end are good at setting the surroundings, but perhaps are a little bit too loud on the soundtrack – particularly those over the end credits since I felt quite lulled by the film and then a little jarred when they came back.
I have tended to prefer the films in this project where we have narrative or situational context to help add context or update the words for the modern viewer to understand, whereas this film is more of a straight performance of the sonnet text. It works very well though and I enjoyed all of the elements of it aside from some that were really insignificant quibbles.