“Aftersun,” November 30, 2023 (2022), DVD. This well-written and directed film, the first feature from Charlotte Welles. Rightly earned many nominations and awards. It takes some work on your part as a viewer. It’s not always clear what or when things are happening. But it’s really worth the effort. I found the special feature/comments that came with the film in its Criterion package very englightening.
Colum (Paul Mescal) and his daughter, Sophie (Frankie Corio) go to holiday for her 11th birthday at a resort in Turkey. He’s a struggling young Scot whose moved to London to recreate himself. ‘I pity the poor immigrant.’ He and her mom have long separated and this is his effort to keep a connection. But it’s a less stylish scene than he anticipated and this is less the joyful last hurrah of parenting than he’d hoped. I felt his sadness and confusion.
It follows their joint and separate joys and pain as they swim, dine, and play games in the Turkish sun. But each is going their separate way even as their on this ‘bonding’ trip. She’s reaching adolescence and he’s struggling with depression and aloneness in the adult world of raves and isolation.
They’re using video to chronicle their experiences, and we see her leave her partner’s bed years later to watch and try to understand their experiences, only some of which are captured by the camera. That which occurs beyond the camera is, of course, as important as the fragments it documents.
See this one.