99 min, UK, USA, 2022, English
Principal Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall
A lazy holiday at a Turkish resort becomes a window on the relationship between a troubled young man and his daughter, in this brilliant first feature from Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells.
Calum (Paul Mescal; Normal People, The Lost Daughter, TIFF 2022 selection Carmen) is a melancholy 30-year-old who’s brought 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) to a seaside resort, apparently on short notice. He couldn’t afford the all-inclusive package, but Calum is willing to indulge his precocious daughter in other ways — letting her play pool with the older kids, for instance, or stay out a little later than her mother would allow.
Sophie’s parents are no longer together, and while Sophie herself seems fine with it, it’s clearly a sore spot for Calum. We follow them along on this seemingly unexceptional holiday — the point of view switching back and forth from crisp 35mm to messier MiniDV in a manner that turns out to be surprisingly portentous.
Aftersun is about the hazy gap between experience and memory, and the way children never fully see their parents until much later in life. It’s a gorgeous film to look at, all sun-dappled landscapes and moody nighttime beaches, and Mescal and Corio are compellingly watchable protagonists, their slight changes in expression speaking to primal emotional shifts. This isn’t a film made up of shocking revelations or big speeches; it’s an accumulation of observations that Sophie will be thinking about for the rest of her life.
“Deftly constructed and utterly heartbreaking, Aftersun announces Wells as an eminent story-teller of prodigious powers.” – Pat Brown, Slant
Monday Night Film Series presents Aftersun | January 23 | 7:30 p.m. | Tilley Hall, UNB Campus
The film series is open to everyone. Regular admission is $10.00. Member’s admission: $7.00
Full-Year Memberships are regular $30.00. Students/Seniors (65 years and up)/NBFC Members are $18.00. Half-Year Memberships are available for $20.00 with a student/senior price of $12.00.
Tickets and Memberships are Available at Tilley Hall, Room 102, UNB on Monday Nights. Memberships are also available at the NB Film Co-op: 732 Charlotte Street (Charlotte Street Arts Centre) in September annually. For more information please email: info@nbfilmcoop.com or call 455-1632.
