Oof, this movie hurt.
"Aftersun" is a slow build to a climax that left me openly weeping, to the point that I had to sit in the theater for a bit after the end credits were over just to compose myself.
It doesn't even seem to be about very much for a while, just a melancholy story about a dad and his pre-teen daughter trying to enjoy a vacation at a run-down resort. But man, that ending comes along and wallops you, and you realize all at once that the movie is about so much, and that's it's been gradually revealing its layers to you all along.
I seriously can't even think about this movie without tearing up. I think about that ending, about how the dad just wants to give his daughter a fun vacation while sinking into a black hole of depression, and the daughter, too young to fully understand the depths of her dad's despair wanting as an adult to go back in time and help him, and I want to bawl.
Easily one of the best movies I saw this year. If movie awards were to be taken at all seriously, this film would be nominated all over the place.
Grade: A+
"Aftersun" is a slow build to a climax that left me openly weeping, to the point that I had to sit in the theater for a bit after the end credits were over just to compose myself.
It doesn't even seem to be about very much for a while, just a melancholy story about a dad and his pre-teen daughter trying to enjoy a vacation at a run-down resort. But man, that ending comes along and wallops you, and you realize all at once that the movie is about so much, and that's it's been gradually revealing its layers to you all along.
I seriously can't even think about this movie without tearing up. I think about that ending, about how the dad just wants to give his daughter a fun vacation while sinking into a black hole of depression, and the daughter, too young to fully understand the depths of her dad's despair wanting as an adult to go back in time and help him, and I want to bawl.
Easily one of the best movies I saw this year. If movie awards were to be taken at all seriously, this film would be nominated all over the place.
Grade: A+