Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022)

[DarkImbecile]

I'm pretty close to the same reaction as twbb here, as I was fine with but not particularly taken by Charlotte Wells' debut until the final scenes pummeled me with a culmination of the formal/aesthetic/emotional structure for which Aftersun was steadily laying the groundwork over its first 80+ minutes. Even before then, the messiness of the handheld digital shots obscure how quietly excellent a lot of the more traditional cinematography is — there's a shot involving a mirror and a television screen that is both perfectly composed to provide just enough visual information to supplement the conversation we're hearing and also expertly folds in the technological distancing that is a running theme.

While Paul Mescal's very good performance might have been a little overhyped by the time I caught up with this, he still delivered two spectacular moments: one a silent reaction to a cutting reply from his pre-teen daughter, the other a moment of soft encouragement as she falls asleep against him. Frankie Corio, on the other hand, seems like she has been undervalued in the conversation around this film, giving one of the better child performances in recent years. Excited to see where both of their careers go, especially since Mescal seems to be the next big thing given all the big projects to which he's been linked.

[MitchPerrywinkle]

Completely agree about Frankie Corio's performance.

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One of the film's best moments hinges entirely upon her subtle expression of genuine disappointment in her father, unfolding in real-time during a karaoke performance. Kudos also has to be given to Wells' exceptional instinct in knowing when to cut from Corio to the words she's reciting off-key and, finally, to Mescal's face, which contains a confluence of disappointment, resentment, and self-loathing. Even more than the much-lauded other musical scene in the film, I'd argue the Losing My Religion sequence provides a supreme example of how minimalist precision can cut right to the heart just as effectively in a nominally mainstream film as much as any intricately edited set piece. The brunt of that scene's emotional impact still rests almost entirely on Corio's young shoulders, and she possesses an emotional maturity and assured sensitivity well beyond her years.

[senseabove]

Given all the talk of its editing and especially how the marvelous capstone of an ending is conveyed almost entirely through its emotionally precise use, I've been surprised I haven't seen more praise specifically for Blair McClendon. When Mescal got the unexpected Oscar nomination, the first tailcoat nomination I vainly checked for was his (no slight meant to Wells).

[Soy Cuba]

I still haven't been able to revisit this film as it was such a painful (yet amazing) watch for me. The film of 2022. I purchased one of the limited edition A24 Blu Ray's and haven't even removed the shrink wrap yet. I will one day when I'm ready. How on earth is Wells going to follow this film ?

[Peter-H]

SpoilerShow

There was one moment in this movie that I thought was interesting which I haven't seen many people comment on. I was wondering if anyone else interpreted it the same way that I did. It's the scene where Sophie is angry that her father didn't join her onstage for karaoke, and she ends up making a cutting comment about how he should stop offering to pay for things when she knows he doesn't have the money. We can see earlier in the movie that she's aware of his financial troubles and is sensitive to them (apologizing for dropping the diving mask that she knew was expensive, etc.), but in the scene I'm talking about she's upset with him, and so she uses that insecurity that she knows he has to hurt him. And you can really see how that comment hurt him, even though he tries to suppress his pain.

Another thing to note is that Welles is very careful to delineate moments that are actual memories from moments that adult Sophie is imagining. Any time Sophie doesn't see something happen it seems like we're supposed to understand that the moment being depicted is imagined. Notably, it seems like Sophie isn't party to most of the moments where her father is most clearly suffering (Calum spitting into the mirror, Calum walking into the ocean, Calum crying on the bed, etc.) so it's almost like those scenes reflect the fact that adult Sophie is trying to imagine the side of him that she never saw.

Anyway, having said all that, I was struck by the staging of this shot: https://imgur.com/a/NvIn1a3

After Sophie says that line to her father, she faces forward and he continues to look at her. In other words, the audience sees Calum's reaction to her comment, but young Sophie doesn't. This implies that adult Sophie is imagining what his reaction to her comment might have been, and how the comment must have hurt him. Adult Sophie then imagines that the comment sent her father into a depressive spiral which culminated in him walking into the ocean, which is how she imagines he might have ended up naked in bed. Again, none of that necessarily happened, but the point is that Sophie made a passive aggressive comment that she thought nothing of at the time, and given the fact that her father committed suicide shortly afterwards, that comment still haunts her decades later. She imagines how that comment might have added to his pain, and feels guilt about it.

I really like this shot because it shows how much thought went into every little detail of this movie. Even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant detail (ie the decision to position the actors so that the audience sees Calum's reaction but Sophie doesn't) conveys so much about adult Sophie's character. It's also impressive how much the movie is able to develop adult Sophie's character despite the fact that she's barely onscreen. In fact, it seems to me like she's the main character; the audience is in her perspective the entire movie. We are seeing moments as she remembers them or imagines them and not as they actually happened, which means that every decision about how to depict a moment reflects something about her character and how she relates to that moment. Aftersun has a very unique way of conveying information which adds to its power; it's the epitome of showing and not telling. The movie doesn't tell us that adult Sophie feels guilt about that comment through ie dialogue, it shows us by showing us the reaction she imagines her father had to what she said.

Did anyone interpret the scene similarly or am I stretching?

[Walter Kurtz]

Peter, I agree with you. And your interpretation is well-stated.

Also, it shouldn't matter if anyone agrees with you. Your interpretation is as valid as anyone's. As valid as the filmmaker herself. That's why I quit reading criticism when I was a teenager. The only thing that matters is your own opinion. Your personal communion with the artwork.

[Rupert Pupkin]

I have the MUBI Blu-Ray UK "Aftersun" (there are a lot of bonus; including one of Charlotte Wells short movie, audio commentary, the Q&A with the actors and C.Wells); is there something special with the "Aftersun" US Blu-Ray digipack edition sells at A24 shop beside the fact that it's a digipack ? (in terms of bonus and picture quality ?)

[therewillbeblus]

Listed on their website:

Extras include a Director’s Commentary and six collectible postcards.

Unsure if it's the same commentary, but I'd imagine so

[thirtyframesasecond]

I only caught up with this when it was shown on BBC2 in the UK recently - I missed it at the cinema. In many ways, I'm glad I didn't watch it at the cinema because I found this an incredibly emotional film as a father of a young daughter myself - and it really brought out the fears you have of disappointing your children!