No matter how many times I see the Sonnet Project do the "have a child" sonnets well (and it is many times now), I still struggle with them when reading them. With sonnet 7 it seems a very long walk to that very same message, comparing the life of a man to the rising and setting of a sun – with nobody looking as the sun dies, so the man best get a son. The film for this sonnet was assigned something as sterile as a giant logo on a boardwalk over on Queens so I was interested to see what they did.
The result is a nice try at a narrative into which the sonnet sits. A man and a woman have a fight, only for the man's inner voice to produce the sonnet to him, set thing in context and (with the line about having a son) reintroduce the couple to hopefully patch up their differences. It is a simple idea and it works pretty well even if you have to go with the idea that reminding the man he needs to have children is going to be the thing that gets him back with a girl. The device mostly works though and I liked that we had the performance of the actor delivering the sonnet but also that of the man thinking it over as it went; both are good with the sonneteer delivering his lines well with clarity and presence; only the very last line fell a bit flat for me as it didn't seem to be as much of a conclusion in the delivery of it.
The film uses the location very well because, although the sign is used, it is really the view across Manhattan that is most important. As the sonnet spreads itself across the length of the day, I really liked how well captured the light was and the film looked really good throughout (and the opening shot capturing a flock of geese was a nice touch too). The only downside of the light and the location is that it sort of makes the line "The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are from his low tract, and look another way". I understand what the line means but the problem I had was that the most beautiful shot of the city comes as the sun reaches this point and actually the sunset is a think that, for many people, will draw the eye much more than a sun at high noon would. I guess this is a problem with the sonnet rather than the film though, but it did strike me as ironic that the film visually disagreed with this line.
All told a very nicely done film that looks great, has a nice simple idea and delivers it well.
The result is a nice try at a narrative into which the sonnet sits. A man and a woman have a fight, only for the man's inner voice to produce the sonnet to him, set thing in context and (with the line about having a son) reintroduce the couple to hopefully patch up their differences. It is a simple idea and it works pretty well even if you have to go with the idea that reminding the man he needs to have children is going to be the thing that gets him back with a girl. The device mostly works though and I liked that we had the performance of the actor delivering the sonnet but also that of the man thinking it over as it went; both are good with the sonneteer delivering his lines well with clarity and presence; only the very last line fell a bit flat for me as it didn't seem to be as much of a conclusion in the delivery of it.
The film uses the location very well because, although the sign is used, it is really the view across Manhattan that is most important. As the sonnet spreads itself across the length of the day, I really liked how well captured the light was and the film looked really good throughout (and the opening shot capturing a flock of geese was a nice touch too). The only downside of the light and the location is that it sort of makes the line "The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are from his low tract, and look another way". I understand what the line means but the problem I had was that the most beautiful shot of the city comes as the sun reaches this point and actually the sunset is a think that, for many people, will draw the eye much more than a sun at high noon would. I guess this is a problem with the sonnet rather than the film though, but it did strike me as ironic that the film visually disagreed with this line.
All told a very nicely done film that looks great, has a nice simple idea and delivers it well.