Sonnet #12
- Episode aired Nov 9, 2017
YOUR RATING
- Director
- Writer
- Star
Photos
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Featured review
1.127: Sonnet #12: Like Roy Walker said, "say what you see"
This entry in the Sonnet Project was uploaded before the project went radio silent for about 9 months; I doubt there is a connection but Sonnet 12 is a pretty disappointing entry in the series. The text itself is so famous and so somber and impacting that one could forgive the film for feeling the weight of expectation to do something with it. The location chosen of a war memorial also suggested that it could produce something of weight and note. All of this hope is lost in a film that seems in a rush to get done - so much so that it barely can last 1 minute 15 seconds on screen, I think the shortest of the films thus far.
It is what the film does that galls though, because it falls far short of even the Sonnet Project goals of bringing narrative and meaning to the texts. Instead we get shown more or less whatever is being said in the moment. Violet? Shot of a purple flower. Tree? Shot of trees? Text moving from nature to speak of people? Fingers move from dead bark onto their own hand. It is frustrating to see how it plays out because it adds only images, but not any meaning or heart. The narration of the text is also lacking, meaning that it feels like it is being read out separated from everything else. I feel for the actress because I doubt she was well served here, and she seems just to replicate the camera in that she does the obvious then moves to the next thing that is obvious.
I continue to follow this series and remember the many great films they have produced, but the long gaps between films combined with low points like this film do not fill me with hope that they can get to the finish line in a quality way.
It is what the film does that galls though, because it falls far short of even the Sonnet Project goals of bringing narrative and meaning to the texts. Instead we get shown more or less whatever is being said in the moment. Violet? Shot of a purple flower. Tree? Shot of trees? Text moving from nature to speak of people? Fingers move from dead bark onto their own hand. It is frustrating to see how it plays out because it adds only images, but not any meaning or heart. The narration of the text is also lacking, meaning that it feels like it is being read out separated from everything else. I feel for the actress because I doubt she was well served here, and she seems just to replicate the camera in that she does the obvious then moves to the next thing that is obvious.
I continue to follow this series and remember the many great films they have produced, but the long gaps between films combined with low points like this film do not fill me with hope that they can get to the finish line in a quality way.
helpful•00
- bob the moo
- Aug 27, 2018
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content