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With: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Brooklyn Toulson, Sally Messham, Spike Fearn, Harry Perdios, Ruby Thompson, Ethan James Smith, Kayleigh Coleman, Celia Rowlson-Hall
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Written by: Charlotte Wells
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Directed by: Charlotte Wells
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MPAA Rating: R for some language and brief sexual material
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Running Time: 102
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Date: 10/21/2022
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Father Figuring
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Charlotte Wells's delicate Aftersun is the deceptively simple story of a father, Calum (Paul Mescal) and daughter, 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio), on vacation in Turkey. We know that Sophie is recalling the trip from a twenty-year vantage point; some of it was documented on a late-90s-model video camera. There's no real plot. Sometimes they swim. Sometimes they sunbathe. Sometimes Sophie meets a boy her age for an arcade motorcycle game. One night Calum has too much to drink. Sophie spends some time with older kids who may or not have dubious intentions. Through these moments, small details come out that expand the characters. Nothing is ever explained outright, but we can infer a great deal. Every so often there are images of Calum dancing wildly in a club, which is perhaps a moment that never existed, but offers some mysterious way for Sophie to process memories of her father. It all flows so naturally that it's often hard to believe that these are performances, and yet Wells is masterfully using the cinema form for a powerful, intimate discourse on memory and connection, as profound as Hirokazu Koreeda's After Life, but subtler. It's a beautiful achievement, worthy of many viewings.
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