Jason Sondhi
A sumptuous Covid film? That’s an odd prospect! We have seen many many films that were created under the auspices of lockdown and social isolation (we co-ran a whole curatorial initiative just for them), but the typical film of this type proudly revels in the limited means of their creation—a trend that, along the way, mainstreamed a more rough-hewn visual aesthetic of cameraphones and low bitrate zoom calls.
Eron Sheean, featured today on Short of the Week for the second time after 2022’s stellar comedic fantasy The Rock of Ages, takes a different approach—the shared limitations of the period are clear, but the lush cinematography, stunning locations, and hypnotic dream quality of its narrative make The Shore in many ways an atypical pandemic short. Yet its themes of familial separation, impending mortality, and its young protagonist’s quest to regain something ineffable make it, in another way, the most archetypal of shelter shorts.
Another telling lockdown detail? The film stars Sheean’s son, Walter, in the lead role. Brought to a beach in the opening scene and then left by his parents, the boy scrambles for what to do, initially following a younger boy inland across the dunes. Suddenly, unexplained, the boy he follows is older and beckons him menacingly into the dark forest. Our protagonist will eventually find himself in a dark cave, all locations imbued over the ages with narrative portent, yet the film, comprised without dialogue, will not spoon-feed audiences its meaning.
Starring the director’s son, much of The Shore was shot by the pair, alone, at their local park.
Emotionally, however, the film is exceedingly legible. While the allegorical nature of the storytelling feels ripe for analysis, I would suggest this is beside the point, and at 20min such a mindset might make for frustrating viewing. The Shore is less a film to be puzzled over than one to let yourself be swept away by. While the particulars of the mask, the boat, and the twine, all have symbolic import, the experience of watching the film, particularly if you have children, is one of a rewarding melancholy as the natural splendor of the setting paired with the surrealistic journey of the protagonist creates a sensation not dissimilar from the Japanese literary term mono no aware, sometimes translated as an appreciation for the “transience of things”. My mind also recalls a favorite short film that, while dissimilar in tone, produces a similar effect of pre-emptive parental nostalgia, Graham Parkes’ Where You Are.
Sheean, for his part, describes his goal thusly, “The Shore is a film about the stages of life and how we must inevitably separate from our parents as we grow, and in turn, our parents must be prepared to let us go. Having two young sons of my own has made me acutely aware of this cycle.”
Shot over an entire year at their local national park in the Netherlands, often just Eron and Walter, and using the seasons to represent the stages of life, The Shore is an admirably minimalist production that nonetheless produces outsized effects in viewers via its scope and bold storytelling. It is a slightly unconventional pick, but all the more powerful for it in my mind, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it in the comments.