Aftersun

A personal story about a vacation by a father and his teenage daughter to Turkey. Wells builds a beautiful and at the same time shocking portrait of parenting using impressions and fleeting emotions. In a simple and authentic way, she talks about relationships, adolescence, but also about illness.

There’s always an undertow of melancholy even to the most idyllic of summer vacations. Every blissed-out day that passes is another closer to it ending, and the shadow of normal life resuming — with its work and school and domestic obligations, shelving the freer, looser personae we adopt away from home — hovers beside our pleasure like a glum weather forecast. That’s what makes them such a good subject for movies: They offer characters escape and adventure on a restlessly ticking clock. In “Aftersun,” for a depressive young dad at a Turkish resort with his pre-teen daughter, the pressure to maximize that time out of reality only draws the reality nearer; Charlotte Wells’ sensuous, sharply moving debut shows that no amount of pool time and fruity drinks and Macarena dance-alongs can keep either the past or future at bay.

‘Aftersun’ Review: Paul Mescal’s Charisma Powers a Summer Vacation Portrait That Isn’t as Sunny as It Seems (variety.com)

Warning for people with epilepsy. The film contains strobe lights.