A Film Review of Aftersun (2022)

 


"Don't you ever feel like... you've just done a whole amazing day and then you come home and feel tired and down and... it feels like your organs don't work, they're just tired, and everything is tired. Like you're sinking. I don't know, it's weird."


    Aftersun is a slow, meditative, beautiful film that encompasses so much of the human experience in very few words.  It's clear that the writer/director, Charlotte Wells, put so much of herself and her family into this feature film debut. There are so many distinct details throughout the story. So much so that the more I think about the film, the stronger each moment becomes. 


    The chemistry between the impressive Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio is the beating heart of this film from beginning to end. Mescal is such an emotive actor, whether he is openly weeping or laughing with a huge smile on his face. Corio has the tall task of matching Mescal's range, and adding an additional adolescent layer of complexity to every scene. The two of them together are constantly riding the line between awkward and entertaining. A fitting conflict considering both characters go on their own soul searching journeys throughout the film. It's an exhausting adventure that leaves both characters tired even after a "whole amazing day". 


    Not only is their father daughter dynamic believable, but the love that each character has for the other is so clear in the writing of the film. Charlotte Wells keeps this film grounded in reality with the dialogue, as if we were all watching a cassette tape of this family's holiday. The realistic dialogue allows for nearly endless subtext as the film quietly battles hefty themes of life, marriage, youth, parenthood, adolescence, gender expectations, and many more. 


    In a film as quiet and interior as this, the littlest details make the biggest differences. The way certain sounds of the hotel overwhelms the image or transition between scenes adds so much to the looming dread within the film. Even the cheeriest of songs are sung terribly or slowed down or distorted, because nothing is ever as good as it seems on the surface. I could go detail after detail, but this is a film that is best experienced first hand. I highly recommend Aftersun, it is the biggest surprise of my 2022 in all the best ways. 


Aftersun: 4.5/5, 9/10, A-

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