Review: All Too Well: The Short Film (2021)

“so casually cruel in the name of being honest.”

We got it, we finally got the 10 minute version of the iconic All Too Well as Swift released her version of Red on 12 November. Now, I was really young back then when she released the song for the first time, and I didn’t follow her music enough to know the words to this song as I only used to hear her songs on the radio. I didn’t actually know who she was as a person too, I only knew her from the gossips and the tabloids which actually paints an untrue picture of the 1989 born singer. For more, watch Miss Americana (2020) as it’s an excellent documentary about her, as I’m not going to talk about her as a person here.

All of the unfamiliarity to this song and lore aside, the almost 15 minute long short film written and directed by Swift herself has succeeded in putting me inside the headspace she was in when this happened, the feelings she felt when she wrote the song. Starring Sadie Sink as Her and Dylan O’Brien as Him, this short movie explores the lyrics of the 10 minute version of the song, which we all know is drawn from the days when she dated Gyllenhaal. In fact, the casting she did is really on point, as the actors have a 11 year difference in age and are usually cast age-appropriate roles, quite similar to her who had a 9 year age difference with him. Hence, that was a genius move from her to show how fucked up her relationship with him was without telling the audience explicitly. Really though, the fucked up-ness of it doubles when you — the audience — is the same age as Sink, and really makes you think about a lot of things.

Sink and O’Brien’s performances are really good, and they portrayed what each of them wanted in the relationship, which is inevitably something different due to the age difference. This is especially evident in the scene where they fought, when she realised it’s long gone, and the magic’s not there anymore. Swift also makes an appearance in this short film as the older version of Her, and I love that she made older Her a book writer with ‘All Too Well’ as her book title, a very striking parallel to her writing this song and releasing it to the world. My favourite part of the song itself is the fourth verse, it’s lyrically awesome.

I love that Swift is creating art from her pain and making lots of money from it, and I feel that she appreciates her fans a lot for her to release the 10 minute version of this song, something they have asked for since forever. Even more amazing, the many people who relate to her pain, whether they’re a Swiftie or not. Makes me think, maybe everyone’s the same after all?

-written by Calista (kru’19)-