Aftersun has been on my mind since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Now when there is no good reason to check out the zine. It’s the best film of the year for a first-time screenwriter and director.
Scotland’s debutant is 35-year-old Charlotte Wells, and her debut is cause for celebration. Don’t expect to be sexually shocked or impressed. For Wells, we only need the realm of the human heart to smile, acknowledge the gesture, and then cry.
Aftersun is a father-daughter story based on the life of a girl on vacation with her father, Wells. The era of the late 90s, dominated by Walkman and karaoke. It was a cheap beach resort in Turkey, far from Scotland, where his parents had gone to live in London.
11-year-old Sophie (newcomer Frankie Curio) and her father Callum (Paul Mescal) look forward to spending time together, tenderly mirroring the quirky adult Sophie (Celia Rolson-Hall) who remembers them on video cameras. mother regret
We are talking about complex issues here, where meaning is found in the exchange of ideas, in the spaces between words. Wells can live his life as a dying Callum – with a splint on his arm – quietly smoking on the balcony while his daughter sleeps or poses.
Wells notes that Callum is dead and Sophie uses her childhood memories to understand her father as an adult in Ghost Dance. What Wells does with his powers of observation is an incredible feat that would be the envy of anyone twice his age.
There’s a scene where Sophie discusses the dangerous tipping point between childhood and adolescence. Or Callum dancing alone, lost in a club with lights. As the father tells his daughter, “There’s a feeling that once you’ve gone where you came from, you don’t need to be there anymore.”
Sophie then feels further abandonment when Callum, a slave to her mercurial temper, sends her on stage alone to perform a karaoke version of their planned duet ‘Losing My Religion’. Wells doesn’t give us any details, just the pain that consumes this father as he tries to keep the best part of himself alive for Sophie.
This would be the time to raise the bar for a brilliant, surprising and immersive performance by Miskal and Coryo that represents acting at its finest. Koryo was chosen after a Facebook call with strangers. And what was the original discovery.
Irish-born Mescal, 26, who received an Emmy nomination and an Emmy nomination for starring opposite Daisy Edgar Jones on Hulu’s Normal People, is an extraordinary actress who has proven her mettle in God’s Country and The Lost Princess. too. .” “.” In Aftersun, he plays a complex role with paralyzed magical and elemental powers.
The empathy that Welles and his actors invest in this character gives Aftersun its ability to draw you in and disappoint you. Is the film too small to attract award attention? Hardly Last year, the beautiful miniature “CODA” won the Academy Award for best picture.
One thing’s for sure: You won’t be able to get Aftersun out of your mind and heart.