CHENNAI: In the running for an Oscar for its lead star Paul Mescal, “Aftersun” has had incredible — and unexpected — success on the awards circuit after is Cannes Film Festival 2022 debut.
Coming from Scottish-born, New York-based director Charlotte Wells, “Aftersun” is a sweetly poignant story of a young single father and his 11-year-old daughter as they spend their summer in a Turkish resort. The understated and emotionally fulfilling drama talks about love and loss, but there is no melancholy and it is well worth a watch on Apple TV+.
As the movie rolls on, we see young father Calum and his daughter Sophie (newcomer Frankie Corio) on a holiday in Turkey in the late 1990s.
The father-daughter duo have fun moments playing water polo or diving underwater, but we cannot miss the quiet anguish of Calum and Sophie — she misses her mother and he his wife, and the holiday has all the ingredients of a bitter-sweet moment in time.
A very personal work, Wells says the inspiration for “Aftersun” were her holiday albums from her childhood and her deep admiration for her father.
I was reminded of Lynne Ramsay’s early works such as “Gasman” (1997) and “Ratcatcher” as both Ramsay and Wells share a common trait — they have this marvellous ability to capture memories on screen. Editor Blair McClendon mixes and matches the past with the present in a seamless style. A quiet work that in a very few words says such a lot about the father and his daughter, it is difficult to recall any movie which has captured a parent-child relationship with such precise detail and with such stylistic finesse.
