Aftersun

Scrambled, pixelated images emerge like memories struggling to come into focus. The source is an old MiniDV camcorder brought along to document the joys of a sun-soaked father-daughter vacation between 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) and 30-year-old Callum (Paul Mescal). Sophie’s parents aren’t together, and she lives with her mother, so the novel excitement in her and Callum’s bond is immediately apparent. But there’s distance, as well—a thinly disguised ruefulness in the young father; a loneliness and questing in the adolescent daughter. Charlotte Wells’ debut feature is a mature distillation of connection and alienation in even the most intimate relationships. Sometimes told with the fragmentariness of memories spilling over in a soup of insight and regret, Aftersun movingly captures both the fleetingness of moments shared with someone you love and the bittersweet traces those moments can leave on the heart. ~TW