'Aftersun' A Review

Aftersun is a drama about a father/daughter vacation, Sophie(Frankie Corio) and Calum(Paul Mescal) through the lens of the adult daughter's reflection. The bulk of the film takes place during the vacation itself, with brief cutaways to the adult Sophie watching camcorder footage from the vacation, as well as dream-like sequences in a strobing dance club where the adult Sophie pursues her un-aged father Calum.

Corio and Mescal give grounded, realistic performances however frequently their Scottish accents are so thick it is impossible to make out what is being said(outside of the UK subtitles should have been provided). But ultimately they don't do too much because of the pervasive vagueness of the script and it's disinterest in imparting any specifics narrative or emotional.

Normally beautifully shot but also intercut with grainy, shaky, barely legible camcorder footage as well as the lack of intent in the dream and adult Sophie sequences, visually it's uneven. The score is relentlessly ominous preparing the audience for a tragedy that never arrives which renders it ineffective and inappropriate. The soundmix, presumably intentionally, is one of the most bizarre choices in recent cinema memory because it jacks up the volume of the score, music, and ambient noise way above the vocal track. So not only does the audience have to contend with the thick accents but also the disproportionately cacophonous back ground noise to attempt to discern what is being said.

Narratively the film seems to have little point to it and offers no insight. What is actually wrong with Calum, is it mental health, cancer, AIDS? What does adult Sophie think of this vacation, why is it important? What we see is kid Sophie, seemingly having a pretty nice vaca, so why all the telegraphing of tragedy? Are we to presume Calum commits suicide after this? If so there is so little there in the way of dimension for either character that implication has little to no impact.

It appears what we are left with is some graduate level mediation on existentialism and classic post-modern rejection of narrative. Which, OK, but the result is so reserved it says nothing, so inert it is boring.

Perhaps appealing for those yet to contend with an absentee father.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Don't See It.