I started watching Aftersun after getting up super early… too early… I wound up dozing off within the first five minutes, waking up with dream memories that I wasn’t sure were part of the movie or not. I restarted the film… and dozed off again. I did this five times before surrendering and just going back to bed. When I returned to the movie, I started over yet again and stayed awake for the whole thing.

Thing is, it wasn’t entirely my fault for dozing off since this movie operates as a scattered memory of a vacation an eleven year old girl went on with her father. It’s a little disjointed, very low-fi, very quiet
and naturalistic, avoiding a concrete narrative and melodrama. It weaves in and out of events, flashing forward to the present, and then takes a hallucinogenic detour to a strobe-lit dance.

In other words, this isn’t like most films… it exists in this odd combination of concrete, matter-of-fact events and a hazy dream state. Is this story going to end in tragedy or beauty? Is it a movie about first love or simply sweet father/daughter bonding? Is it about anything other than the memory of a Turkish vacation?

The film is borderline experimental with how it settles on long takes and everyday, non-eventful happenings. Much of it is open to interpretation and those with little patience may tune out.

I came down with my interpretation after the gorgeous and heartbreaking final scene set to Queen’s Under Pressure. Before that, I was going along with the movie, questioning its direction and meaning, and admiring the very naturalistic acting of the father (Paul Mescal) and daughter (Frankie Corio)… both star-making performances. But those final moments were desperately lovely and desperately sad, affirming (in my mind) what the film was about. And turning what felt often like watching someone else’s family vacation videos into something human and both profound and common at the same time.

I really enjoyed this lovely little art house film.

Score: 87