Review: Taylor Swift – All Too Well: the short film
Review: Taylor Swift - All Too Well: the short film
When someone mentions Taylor Swift, your mind is bound to go straight to her extensive discography that includes song after song about her exes.Â
Perhaps you may even think she has too many exes, that she’s overdramatic and overrated, and you definitely wouldn’t be the first.Â
However, All Too Well: The Short Film is an argument against all that negativity.Â
Plus, Taylor guarantees a well-stocked playlist for anyone experiencing a breakup and now she has a short film to go with it; one that reflects her genius.Â
The entire film is picturesque as it opens to warmer, calming colours, representing the happy beginning of Taylor’s relationship.Â
Rumour has it said relationship is meant to be Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal’s short one, and the casting doesn’t help these rumours from spreading. Â
Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink were an ingenious casting on Taylor’s part as they reflect the same age gap that the song may be about.Â
Not only that but Sadie Sink rose to fame as a child, is known for playing Max, a child, in Stranger Things, so we view her as one. Â
Dylan O’Brien, on the other hand, rose to fame in adulthood, so no one sees him as a child.Â
He was also most relevant in the 2010’s and began to slip off the radar at the same time Sadie Sink started to rise to fame. Â
It makes the usually normalised age gap in Hollywood more jarring and shows us the reality of how strange it can be, after all, it is a 20-year-old and a 30-year-old.Â
You don’t stop developing mentally until you are 25 therefore pairing them together makes all the kissing and romance uncomfortable. Â
The main difference between the original All Too Well and the new 10-minute version is the verses about an age gap, and I must applaud Taylor for bringing to light that it should not be normal for someone just into adulthood to be with someone well into it.Â
She shows the unequal power dynamic between the pair in the argument scene, where we see Sadie’s character be gaslit and broken down. Â
Dylan O’Brien, someone known for his roles in Teen Wolf and The Maze Runner (which everyone loves) becomes a manipulative man that you can’t help but despise as he calls Sink’s character “selfish” and tells her she’s making herself feel stupid and acting out for no reason, when she wasn’t. Â
Words like that are enough to break anyone and just watching it was enough to bring me to tears – I sat crying as she did too. Â
So far, I have only really seen her play the same kind of character, but All Too Well pushed her out of that box, and she really shone bright.Â
As well as the phenomenal acting, the cinematography is gorgeous as it reflects the stages of the relationship. Â
Warm colours are shown throughout when the relationship is happy and healthy, but they soon change to colder colours as they argue, and the relationship begins to crack before it shatters completely and Sadie’s character shatters with it. Â
I have never experience heartbreak but seeing her sobbing on the bed, I felt like I had. Taylor Swift’s lyrics make every emotion hit so much harder.Â
“It’s supposed to be fun, turning 21” paired with Sadie Sink waiting for Dylan O’Brien to show up at her birthday party reached through the screen and struck me straight in the heart.Â
Flashbacks of the best times in the relationship are shown, reminding us that most toxic or doomed relationships do have good times, and that heartbreak can make them seem that much nicer. It’s bittersweet.Â
The rose-tinted glasses come off though, when Sadie Sink’s character is shown years later and is played by Taylor Swift who has released a book named All Too Well. Â
She reads from it in a room full of warm colours, showing she’s happy once again, this time without him. Outside is Him (as he is named in the credits) watching her read.Â
There is a juxtaposition between the colours, his being colder, showing that the problem in the relationship was him and that she has moved on and is happy, but he stays stuck in the past. It’s beautiful and sad at the same time.Â
In less than 15 minutes you feel happiness, sadness, anger and a bittersweet acceptance that makes you cry as you see her becoming her own person at the end.Â
So, I will die on the hill that Taylor Swift is a bit of a genius and that this song and short film do nothing but prove my point. Â
Rating: 9/10
By Rose EdwardsÂ
Feature Image: Unsplash
