AFTERSUN

You simply won’t have experienced some of the best movie moments of the year if you haven’t seen this unassuming little gem.

It takes a while for Aftersun to reveal its true nature. At first it appears as though you are watching a simple, nostalgic look back at a nineties summer a young dad and his 11-year-old daughter are spending in a Turkish holiday resort. Yet gradually you start to notice something is not quite right, until in the movie’s final act the unescapable truth comes to light.

When it does, you are forced to immediately reassess the dialogue and the images you have watched in the preceding hour and a half, questioning how much stock you should put in the naïve point of view of a young girl or in the too rosy memories that so often cloud an uncomfortable reality.

It’s a deft highwire act that debut filmmaker Charlotte Wells pulls off here, and one that immediately singles her out as a writer-director to keep an eye out for. In bringing Aftersun to the screen Wells is also aided by the wonderful lead performances of teenage Frankie Corio and the freshly Oscar-nominated Paul Mescal.

In short: you simply won’t have experienced some of the best movie moments of the year if you haven’t seen this unassuming little gem.

release: 2022

director: Charlotte Wells

starring: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio