Aftersun

Sometimes at playtime, I look up at the sky and if I can see the Sun then... I think that the fact that we can both see the Sun, so even though we're not actually in the same place and we're not actually together... we kind of are in a way, you know? Like we're both underneath the same sky, so... kind of together.A24 Ranked At a young age, we can never truly understand fully what emotions are and how others feel. We cannot just fully understand what our parents feel. The movie "Aftersun" captures that beautifully, making me hug my parents after it ended. Jesus, even my dad almost cried. This shit HITS. The movie has texture, had me so immersed I could almost feel exactly like I was in there. The ending did not feel great, but still, the breeze of summery air, you can feel the movie, whether it is those vibrant summer days or that gray airport scene. This movie doesn’t only focus on its plot, though. It focuses on how it shows its story, how it tells it, and how it is. It is less abstract, leaving more obvious clues to what is going on, and yet it still conveys such a simple and humane story. It taps into the quick shifting we can have in our emotions, how one moment we are all happy and then we are all sad. That shit hits like a fucking brick in your heart. When Sophie is remembering the summer with her dad, it’s clear she remembers it really well, but still, it has a slightly dreamy feeling to it, like something was altered or was missing. We see Callum depicted as she saw him because the whole movie is through her eyes, not who he actually was. Over time, memories will change, and there is nothing you can do about it. That’s why taking pictures is so important in this movie. Through those videos and photos, you can see how Callum really was, how uncomfortable he felt while receiving love. That’s what makes this movie so, so impactful. The film feels like a warm hug, but that’s just because we saw it through Sophie’s eyes. The movie allows both Callum and Sophie to be who they are. It does what I really love in movies: just letting the camera sit there and let the characters be who they are, either talking or just sitting in silence, with some little thing here and there, some scenes not even a minute long that seem so meaningless. But then you look back, and your heart just gets more fucked up. Paul Mescal was just fucking brilliant as Callum. A very well-deserved Oscar. Callum battles his own demons the whole movie while also trying to keep his daughter happy. He uses that smiley and funny attitude, but deep down, he is in agony. That’s what hits a lot too: the fact that in all those scenes where he is smiley, laughing with his kid, being in the pool, just trying to make the most of that time, he was suffering the whole time. We simply couldn’t tell because he did his best to hide it from his daughter. One of my favorite scenes is when he is removing the cast from his broken arm. The movie gives us a clear visual separation between Sophie and Callum. She is in the living room, just happy, minding her business, and everything is warm-colored, and then Callum is removing the cast in a cold and colorless bathroom, on the verge of crying because of the pain. But he still didn’t cry because he did not want to have his daughter remember the sad moments of their last time together. You can practically feel Callum just doing his best to make this trip the best and most memorable for Sophie. And he does. They have a lot of fun together, but again, he can only keep it up for so long, and sometimes there are cracks. When Sophie talks about how tired she feels, Callum just gets absolutely disgusted with himself and spits at himself because she was describing depressive episodes that he felt like he passed on to his daughter. All these little cracks all lead up to that fucking perfect climax. "Under Pressure" was the best fucking choice possible for this movie. “This is the last dance.” I was already feeling sad when I saw the letter, but those lyrics just make you depressed. It’s all so sad. My favorite little detail is those dreams Sophie has with the father in those flashy rooms. When you put all those frames together, you see Sophie going to her father and not only trying to dance again one last time with him but also trying to save him because she feels guilty. She feels like if she knew, she could have saved him. We see how she thinks she could with the flashy scene. The ending scene where he goes to the flashy room represents him just going to the deepest part of his depression. I feel like the flashy room represents the suicidal thoughts Callum was having, and Sophie being in there represents how she feels that if she knew about them, she could have saved him. That is what hits the most. Overall, "Aftersun" beautifully captures the complex emotions and relationships between a parent and child. It had me hugging my parents after it ended; even my dad almost cried. The movie’s texture is so immersive that you feel like you’re really there, whether it’s during vibrant summer days or at a gray airport. It tells a simple, human story through Sophie’s eyes, showing how memories change over time. Paul Mescal’s performance as Callum is amazing, portraying a father battling inner demons while trying to keep his daughter happy. The film’s subtle moments and visuals, like the cast removal scene, highlight Callum’s hidden pain and efforts to make the trip memorable for Sophie. The climax, set to "Under Pressure," powerfully depicts Sophie’s guilt and her wish to save her father from his darkest thoughts. The movie resonates deeply, feeling like a warm hug from Sophie’s perspective.