The Swan 2023

this happened to me when i was 6 except it was the swan who committed horrendous acts of violence on me when i was feeding the ducks

ive been a nasty, vengeful man ever since

17 minutes of magic. Beautiful and heartbreaking.

Beautiful and hearbreaking, I'm loving these short movies.

After I found "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" quite exhausting, I liked "The Swan" much better. This is partly because the runtime of this short film is only 17 minutes, which makes it much less tiring. The monologues spoken directly into the camera are also interrupted every now and then by tonally varied moments, which is very helpful. In any case, Rupert Friend does an excellent job as the narrator. Otherwise, stylistically, you get what you expect from Wes Anderson. I will probably never become a huge fan of the Roald Dahl stories, but at least "The Swan" is enjoyable enough to provide a few minutes of entertainment.

Out of the Roald Dahl stories picked up by Anderson for this cycle of short films, this is hands down my favorite. The monologue can be a little hard to follow at times, but I found it somewhat poetic in the manner it was staged.

Rated a Connor 10, normal 8.7

“‘My darling’, she cried, ‘my darling boy…what’s happened to you?’”

I never thought a Roald Dahl story could give me chills.

Bullying can have a horrific effect on people, even in adulthood, and you can interpret the storyteller of this short as that child years ago still coming to terms with it.

Intelligent and creative production designs, with an excellent performance from Rupert Friend, who tells the entire story through his movements, gestures, facial expressions, and switching voices for different characters.

With Wes Anderson, it’s visual-heavy, but here, it feels more isolated, a sad and personal one.

For my money, “The Swan” is the weakest of the four films in this little series. Perhaps my vision was clouded because of how much I enjoyed “Henry Sugar,” but this one just felt a little flat. The acting is still top notch from Rupert Friend as an adult man telling the story of the time his younger self was tortured by two neighborhood bullies. The set design is also similarly excellent and integrated so well with the cinematography, but a few of the directorial choices left a bit to be desired.

Read my full review on my Substack. (https://theoscarproject.substack.com/p/review-the-swanthe-rat-catcherpoison)

Henry Sugar and Other Stories are quite good. My only criticism: Why are they not complied into one feature film? Each short is elevated when viewed collectively.

Excellent narration by Rupert Friend. Nice little story about endurance, not giving up and freedom. Camera was a character of it's own. An ok 17 min short, very simple and to the point. These shorts seem like broken down segments of an anthology.

My favorite one so far!! Maybe even one of Wes's best, when it comes to completely Wesing out, imo.

Surprisingly suspenseful storytelling, well paced and dark/bleak, even though it's just Rupert Friend telling us the story the entire time!!

The train scene was mwah.

2nd short from Wes Anderson's special Roald Dahl Collection on Netflix I've watched.