Aftersun

Aftersun captures the grief of growing up and realizing that your parents were people who sheltered you from their unseen struggles and pain. The overwhelming nature of this film comes from the intimacy of the characters and the low-stakes moments that build over the course of the holiday. A father doing his best to make his daughter happy for a while. He purchases a rug as a gesture in an effort to provide something permanent and valuable for his daughter, along with an attempt to provide her with singing lessons, despite his own financial instability. "Stop doing that." > "Doing what?" > "Offering to pay for something when I know you don't have the money." Sophie is young and doesn't realize the impact that this statement has on her father because he has hidden it from her. The restraint and ambiguity in the story is what I found most effective about Aftersun. Mental health often doesn't provide you with answers and the movie is an effective representation of that. I think it directly mirrors Sophie's thoughts as an adult. There is missing information in her perspective of the story because all she has left from this time is what was recorded on the camera and distant, fragmented memories. This is a movie that provokes reflection about my childhood and reinforces the great respect and love that I have for my parents and all they have done for me, through hardships I know they have faced.