by Lizzy Hermosilla ‘23

Taylor Swift is a renowned singer songwriter, but her new venture in writing, directing, and starring in a short film shows that she can really do it all. All Too Well, The Short Film, released November 12 on YouTube, is a fifteen minute masterpiece and nothing short of perfection. The film is accompanied most of the time with her single “All Too Well” first released in 2012, but the real beauty of the film is in the storytelling capabilities of not only the song but the two other actors in the film, Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink.

Any fan of Swift knows that she is a profound storyteller in her music, and many times draws inspiration off of her own unique and heartbreaking experiences. The film follows a couple Her (Sadie Sink) and Him (Dylan O’Brien) through the stages of a whirlwind romance not without flaws. The casting choices for this film could not have been more on point with Sink and O’Brien as they depict a young couple caught up in a whirlwind romance only to find the real world to be the driver of their separation.

The range of emotions displayed by both Sink and O’Brien is outstanding and even more impressive given the fact that for the majority of the film the only audio was the song. Both actors were able to portray the heartache and melancholy of a love lost to timing and pride without the use of words, but with body language and raw emotion which is an award winning skill to possess. 

Despite the raw emotion and the beautiful pairing of O’Brien and Sink, it is somewhat uncomfortable to see Sink, 19 and O’Brien, 30 in such a physical romantic relationship in the film, even though this was an intentional choice by Swift to display younger relationships with age gaps. Sink is most known for her work in the teen show on Netflix, Stranger Things, where she plays a fourteen year old girl. Her most likely strategic casting in the short film is an effort to show her depth of acting in order to secure more mature roles in the future as the production of Stranger Things season 5 is still uncertain. Sink accomplished her goal of displaying a wider range of motions; however, it was still agitating to see her make out with O’Brien who is known for more mature projects like American Assassin. 

The film is still a piece of both cinematic and storytelling art that utilizes lighting to convey emotion, and camera angles that emulate the necessary passage of time after a heart break. Swift makes an appearance in the second to last scene of the film where she is a successful author at book reading for her most recent novel All Too Well. Her is in essence Swift; while Her does represent a romantic endeavor of the singer songwriter, Her also represents Swift’s growth in the industry, and within herself. Without a doubt the surface level concept of the film is love at the wrong time, but the deeper meaning of the piece feels more like one of growth and maturity rather than plain and simple love.

Grade: A