a cute short movie
Overall: a writer is told his poem? script? isn't honest and his friend tries to help himContent Warnings: internalized homophobia
What I Liked
- there was some nice piano music
- come cute moments
Room For Improvement
- it isn't clear what their relationship is at the beginning, I guessed that they were platonic friends but that could have been made more clear
- I wasn't sure if everything we saw actually happened, or if some of it was in his imagination
- some of the lighting was too dark
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Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May
It is short, sweet, and well executed, it might be a little gloomy and a bit confusing, but I think this is what is making this movie even more artistic.How often do we have a story with a happy couple (long term happy couple)...with normal lives, striving for perfection, reaching their dreams...supporting each other, etc
And yes I understand being scared to tell your story. We all come from different backgrounds and many factors affect us. I think this short movie made me think about myself, 20+ minutes made me think more than I have imagined. I tried so many times to tell many stories, but never my own. Why is that?
This is why this is a good movie!
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This review may contain spoilers
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
A writer is told his scrip was not honest enough so he asks his actor friend to read it. The actor decides to enact the script and incite the writer to be honest about his feelings!What a beautiful short movie telling a story of a couple of friends afraid to take a step further in their relationship. The question is asked: what does it mean to be honest to yourself? The actor recites Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 (written for an anonymous young man known as Fair Youth) as his confession of love. The writer realizes he needs to accept himself for who he is and be open with his feelings in order to be happy.
This movie is a bit on the gloomy side: the colours are subdued, the lights for the most of the movie, are dimmed: we only see the light of the day once they are honest with each other. The music is just as gloomy: a series of classical piano waltzes.
And yet, it leaves you feeling happy and optimistic: if you are honest enough with yourself , you can grab your own happiness with both hands!
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Two young men coming to terms with the love they feel for each other. Quiet, fragile, lyrical, but sometimes emotional, the film is well above average in all evaluation criteria for me. Not just because it's Korea...
Dva mladí muži, kteří se vyrovnávají s láskou, kterou k sobě vzájemně cítí. Film tichý, křehký, lyrický, ale někdy i emoční je všech kritériích hodnocení u mě vysoce nad průměrem. Nejen proto, že je to Korea ...
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Masks, metaphors and speaking through the words of another
"Sonnet 18" is a short film that, typical of its genre, hints at underlying themes, characterisations and even the plot itself, rather than telling us everything.With this genre, I find that either you either relate to the characters or you don't -- since there's not much time to tell the story, the viewer must make their connection quickly and easily, or they will feel like I did with this one -- able to appreciate the beauty of the storytelling but not really liking it.
Was it good?
Absolutely. It's an artistic short film that tells its story with a specific aesthetic, and it's very consistent with that.
Did I like it?
Somewhat. I can appreciate the story they wanted to tell and the artistic way they told it. But I wasn't emotionally invested enough (that's me, not the film's fault).
Would I recommend it?
I wouldn't *not* recommend it, since it's so short; and it is well-done. People who like their plots spelled out for them might not find it engaging.
I liked that almost everything was filled with meaning: Where the characters are and what they are doing there (and in what state of mind), how they speak or don't speak, and at what times each one wears a (metaphorical or real) mask. The romantic classics (Debussy, Chopin, Brahms) are used sparingly, and with clear intention -- mostly we hear no background music, and the starkness of the silence underlines the characters' emotional state.
As for the use of Sonnet 18 -- we hear it three times. The first time we hear it is when the actor recites it on stage. To be honest, I did not like that one at first -- it felt almost farcical, with the overly theatrical hand gestures and intonation. The second recitation, however, made it clear that this was very deliberate -- and the third recitation confirmed it. If you watch the film, I urge you to pay some attention to how the sonnet is spoken each time.
Dialogue was used very sparingly -- and I wished they had used even less. The long stretches of silence felt more powerful to me than any of the dialogue (except for the recitations of the sonnet); and I think some of the dialogue could have been shortened even more.
Let the sonnet and the way both characters recite it and the silence in between, do the talking. Just as no single word in a sonnet is meaningless, so the dialogue in this short film could have been.
Overall, this is a well-crafted short film, obviously made with dedication and love.
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