The Sonnet Project Sonnet #27 (2013– ) watch online HD

This short film was recently part of a write-up in the New York Times on the Sonnet Project as a whole, and it was a piece well deserved as the project prepared to release its 100th short film – a remarkable achievement and even more so if you look at the ambition and high production values of many of the short films. This 100th film is a milestone in that regard, and, while it is not one of the best of the large pack to pick from, it provides a combination of what the project does very well. The short film takes the rather sad and reflective sonnet text and expands it to create characters and lives to play out within the delivery of the text. Specifically we join a troubled character in the back of a taxi, making a journey home to her partner.

The sonnet plays out in voice-over, which is not my favorite way with these films, as often it seems more of a technical decision rather than one that is necessarily the best for the film; however here it works because it allows the film to jump around n the mind of the character, and also within a timeline which includes memories and the present. This is nicely played out because it gives a lot of the character in what we see, and in turn this feeds back onto the words we hear to provide context for the restless struggle of the character. I did find the delivery of this to be a little overwrought thanks to the amount of material that physically played out the mental state with gesture alone – as part of a total performance such things inform, but separated from the words, and heavily edited together, it did feel heavy.

Countering that is that Preston is actually very good, with a light touch and the sense of more going on behind the gestures; I was surprised since I am more accustomed to her in True Blood, so this rather contained piece was quite pleasing from her. The technical delivery is varied; the editing seemed to highlight too much that was similar, while the fuzzy cinematography and soft camera movement added to the sense of it trying to be deeper and more emotional than it was able to totally be on its own merits – although I suspect this is personal taste.

Preston does greatly help it though, and it has context, story, and meaning beyond the sonnet, but yet also including it.