There was a bit of fuss around this film when it came out, partly because of the recent press coverage the project had had, but also because it features Magnussen and Mauzy in the lead roles. Despite all this, I would say that in some ways it is not the strongest of the short film because of how obvious much of it is. Now, I concede that perhaps it works so well that it makes it look easy/obvious, because it does work, but for me the majority of the film plays a rather obvious card. Not only do we get the staircase as time, but we also get lots of flashbacks which are also delivered in a rather obvious manner – lots of soft-focus and soft light across happy frames of memory.
To add this to this, the device of time is not as well delivered as I would have liked; Magnussen is great with his voice-over delivery, but physically the "stiff old man" act/transition doesn't really work as well as it should and his delivery of it is a bit too obvious. All that said though, it does fit really well with the text, and it makes it relevant and accessible in how it puts time to one side when it comes to the constant of their relationship; it is hard not to be won over by it in the end, because it is sweet and filled with hopefulness – hard not to love it for that.
So, for the most part I wanted it to be smarter with how it did what it did, but in the end I found myself won over by the strong link to the text, and ultimately by the sweetness of it all.
To add this to this, the device of time is not as well delivered as I would have liked; Magnussen is great with his voice-over delivery, but physically the "stiff old man" act/transition doesn't really work as well as it should and his delivery of it is a bit too obvious. All that said though, it does fit really well with the text, and it makes it relevant and accessible in how it puts time to one side when it comes to the constant of their relationship; it is hard not to be won over by it in the end, because it is sweet and filled with hopefulness – hard not to love it for that.
So, for the most part I wanted it to be smarter with how it did what it did, but in the end I found myself won over by the strong link to the text, and ultimately by the sweetness of it all.