A man finds that his play has closed early. Turning to the warmth of the Old Town Bar for comfort, the man also finds himself out of favor there – left looking in the window at the so-called "In-Crowd" as they celebrate and toast each other's success. From the cold street he beweeps his outcast state.
The recent run of Sonnet Project shorts have not been bad per se, however they have tended towards rather straight delivery compared to the better ones that really do well to contextualize the sonnet, and make the delivery in the film add something to it beyond that which the reader would get in isolation. For this reason I think I liked sonnet 29 probably more than I would have done had it not come along at this point. I liked it because it does set out a story of sorts, or at least a scene which plays out in a way that adds to the words and makes them more meaningful and understandable to the viewer. It fits pretty well with this, and I also liked that the sonnet fits across the short – as opposed to flicking a switch to "delivery" as some have done.
The performance from Degnan is good, but the film is also fine technically. Most importantly, the sound is good (always encouraging to see a sound guy in the credits) and the camera moves well on the street and in the bar. It perhaps lingers on the pen longer than it needed to at the end, but otherwise the short film works well with the sonnet, and I enjoyed how it played out and fitted with the dialogue – as most of the strongest Sonnet Project shorts do.
The recent run of Sonnet Project shorts have not been bad per se, however they have tended towards rather straight delivery compared to the better ones that really do well to contextualize the sonnet, and make the delivery in the film add something to it beyond that which the reader would get in isolation. For this reason I think I liked sonnet 29 probably more than I would have done had it not come along at this point. I liked it because it does set out a story of sorts, or at least a scene which plays out in a way that adds to the words and makes them more meaningful and understandable to the viewer. It fits pretty well with this, and I also liked that the sonnet fits across the short – as opposed to flicking a switch to "delivery" as some have done.
The performance from Degnan is good, but the film is also fine technically. Most importantly, the sound is good (always encouraging to see a sound guy in the credits) and the camera moves well on the street and in the bar. It perhaps lingers on the pen longer than it needed to at the end, but otherwise the short film works well with the sonnet, and I enjoyed how it played out and fitted with the dialogue – as most of the strongest Sonnet Project shorts do.