Aftersun

Can’t believe I missed this one for so long. Excellent film that knows exactly the story it wants to show, and gives you nothing else. It’s open ended in terms of what happened to Calum, because that’s not what Sophie is trying to find out. Instead we see a somewhat confused Sophie piecing together an accurate picture of her father’s reality using a combination of physical film (what her father wanted to be remembered as), her younger self’s unreliable memory (that shows hints of his true damaged self), and her own adult imagination (filling in the gaps using a realistic, mature perspective).  The juxtaposition of her younger self’s perspective of her father and the most likely reality of the situation is captured so perfectly in every way. This contrast is shown in very unique ways; usage of colour and interesting shots designed to demonstrate a change of medium, such as from actual recorded tape to fragments of unreliable memory.