Aftersun (2022, dir. Charlotte Wells, UK) by Kymm Zuckert
About a week ago I was listening to a podcast called This Had Oscar Buzz, one of my favourites. They were talking about movies that they saw at the New York film Festival and TIFF, and suddenly Joe mentioned the movie Aftersun, which he said was his favorite film of the year. Chris also said he loved it, and I became very interested, especially when Joe said that people who watched it would cry entirely for the last half hour.
Now I am a very easy crier, and I love seeing a movie that will make me weep. I had never heard a thing about this movie, not a single word, except I thought I remember the title from saying that it was playing at the AMC. Which it was! So I went and saw the next day.
This is my favourite way to see a film, knowing nothing at all about it, only that it was good. Or so I was lead to believe.
It a memory film, about how the year Sophie was eleven and her father was thirty-one, they went on holiday at a resort in Turkey. We see glimpses of grown-up Sophie, twenty years later, the same age her dad was then, but only briefly, mostly it’s the memory.
Nothing is explained, because it’s a memory. Nothing really happens, because it’s a memory. And frankly, because it’s a memory, it was pretty boring. Now I absolutely accept that this is a film that people are rapturous over, and I have no doubt that it is my failing that I did not connect with it. I mean, it has 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s me and five critics listed who didn’t like it. You will probably like it. But I must admit, I didn’t.
Now, my entire problem is the script and how literally nothing at all happens for 96 min, everything else was great. It is the debut feature of its director, Charlotte Wells, and I greatly admired the way the film was shot, at all angles and sometimes with the most important part out of frame, again, like a memory.
The performances are absolutely spot on, both Sophie (Frankie Corio) and her father, Calum (Paul Mescal) are so completely beautiful and natural, almost unlike anything seen before. Paul Mescal is in the series Normal People, which is really quite a phenomenon in the UK, but that little girl is making her debut and only two things could happen are these: Either she becomes a big star, or she is never heard from again. There’s no in between with children like this.
So, to wrap it up: well-made film with brilliant performances is also boring because seriously, not a single thing happens. And I know this means I’m shallow, but I’ll own it. I kind of insist on a plot, because if the filmmakers neglect to provide one, then I don’t understand why we are all wasting our collective time. If I want to watch a slice of life where nothing really happens, then I can just watch my own life.
Kymm Zuckert is an actor/writer/native Angelino. When Kymm was a child, her parents would take her to see anything, which means that sometimes she will see a film today and say, “I saw that when I was eight, I don’t remember any of that inappropriate sex stuff!” Check out her entire 365 day blog @ https://365filmsin365days.movie.blog