It’s A Beautiful View

Directed by Anthony Aitman

2022

Time, memory and family are three key themes of new short film It’s A Beautiful View from local filmmaker Anthony Aitman.

Filmed in Barton-upon-Humber in North Lincolnshire we open with a man standing on a beach holding a teddy bear memento as he stares at the coast.

Checking the time on his watch we begin to hear the man’s voice as he recollects warm memories about his grandfather.

With the shifting sands of time represented in the beach’s dunes, the voiceover explores the incredibly personal connection the man had to his grandfather who has passed away at 79 years-old.

Acknowledging this wasn’t a “bad innings”, he recalls an old photo of how cool he looked and his fond recollections of his Tommy Cooper-style persona.

The film is shot well and it’s early on when we get to see these memories emerge as real-life people in the same shot. The short does well to connect these 'ghosts' sitting beside us even after our loved ones have gone. And the beach location is used to link us up with the places of our past.

The viewer soon comes to the realisation that the voiceover is in fact a eulogy at the funeral and within this speech we hear reference to a letter his grandad George cherished.

This letter is from George’s own father John, and we discover even more connections between the generations with allusions to the dread of war and the comforting peace of the beach.

With a solid tone, it’s unfortunate that one of the slight negatives is the general use of letter writing. It’s a bit of a personal pet peeve (noted in reviews here & here) but writing, or reading, letters in films can easily make it a less visual experience as we see someone staring down at a page.

And certainly in short films, it can sometime seem a waste of the limited time at the filmmaker’s disposal.

However, to be fair it’s mostly used here to emphasise the bigger issues it explores – that of connecting moments of the present with the memories of the past that most linger.

Additionally, the ethereal music combines with the well-written script and it cleverly plays with words, writing and voice. And the filmmaker focuses on the beach’s stones hinting upon how we build upon the rocks of the past.

Ending on some hope for the future, It’s A Beautiful View is clearly a personal piece that the filmmaker imbues with a strong sense of emotion and family bonding. And its big themes make up for the simple but effective shooting style in a tranquil and contemplative short about shared moments across time.

★★★½☆

Michael Sales