Aftersun

Aftersun

At a fading vacation resort, 11-year-old Sophie treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum. As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender recollections of their last holiday become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't.

  • Released: 2022-10-21
  • Runtime: 101 minutes
  • Genre: Drama
  • Stars: Frankie Corio, Paul Mescal, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Sally Messham, Ayse Parlak, Sophia Lamanova, Brooklyn Toulson, Spike Fearn, Harry Perdios, Frank Corio, Ruby Thompson, Ethan James Smith, Onur Ekşioğlu, Cafer Karahan, Kayleigh Coleman, John Stuifzand, Tyler Mutlu, Kieran Burton, Nijat Gachayev, Sarah Makharine, Erol Cengizalp
  • Director: Charlotte Wells
 Comments
  • 2456adam - 19 June 2024
    Smug Film Festival Praise Paints a Veil Over a Boring Film with Uninteresting Protagonists
    There really is not much to say here. The film itself is one of the most boring, drawn out films I've ever watched just to abruptly end with no payoff.

    This is the Walmart version of the Walmart version of Manchester by the Sea. Whereas this film does nothing to articulate the depressed main character's struggle or reason for such melancholy, leading to a highly disinteresting plot with little to no interest or sympathy for our main protagonist.

    Don't let the film festival crowd suck you into this, unless you're looking for an early nights sleep on the couch. If you want a movie of this style, watch one that actually put some effort into the writing and see the referenced film in the second paragraph.
  • Gymnopedies - 26 March 2024
    "I think it's nice that we share the same sky."
    Aftersun is an absolutely beautiful and tender penetrating look into the mind of someone with depression. The story revolves around a father, Calum (Paul Mescal) who is taking his daughter, Sophie (Frankie Corio) on a holiday to Turkey, in the 1990's. Their holiday would be videotaped for Sophie, as she would reflect on the joy and the sadness of the holiday that she took with her father twenty years earlier.

    Paul Mescal's performance here as a father desperate to connect with his beloved daughter is magnificent; and also struggling to hide his inner turmoil and deep depression is quite remarkable. It is really no wonder that Mescal would be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Mescal would later star in All of Us Strangers, another intimate and mature portrayal of depression. The soundtrack is exceptional, and would be utilized to immense effect; the closing scene to Queen's "Under Pressure" is tender, as it is heart-breaking. What I liked about the soundtrack is that it successfully captured the feel of the 90s - its iconography and nostalgia that it was trying to capture.

    Aftersun is an extremely touching and moving film about a father who only wanted to make his daughter happy, when he was feeling dead inside. I was very much impressed with the cinematography of the film, beautifully shot - the amount of golden light that reflects Sophie, contrasts well with the cold light that reflects her father, portraying the juxtaposition of the depression that overwhelms the father, and the innocence of the daughter. A sun kissed masterpiece soaked in melancholy and nostalgia, that will last for quite some time after the credits roll.