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Aftersun

The 100 Most Anticipated Movies of 2022

Aftersun

2022

Charlotte Wells

Paul Mescal, Francesca Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Kayleigh Coleman ...

7.3

9,798

Drama Sophie (newcomer Francesca Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall as adult Sophie) reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father (Paul Mescal) 20 years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between miniDV footage as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t.

	Media	Author	Review
		Carlos Aguilar The Wrap	"That a director can summon such emotional maturity paired with grand narrative originality in her first outing, particularly working from a deeply personal standpoint, astounds"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"A sunny delight. (...) is a subtle and complex investigation of post-divorce parenthood (...) Wells’s movie ripples and shimmers like a swimming pool of mystery (...) The details accumulate; the images reverberate (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Guy Lodge Variety	"Sensuous, sharply moving debut (...) Ambitiously and poignantly, 'Aftersun' explores the oddly intimate chasm between parent and child"
		Peter Travers ABC News	"One thing is for sure: you won't be able to get 'Aftersun' out of your head and heart"
		Justin Chang Los Angeles Times	"A beautifully sculpted and quietly shattering first feature"
		Fionnuala Halligan Screendaily	"Wells hits a vein, and, occasionally, an artery (...) Marks Wells out as one of the most promising new voices in British cinema in recent years"
		K. Austin Collins Rolling Stone	"It ends and you want more (...) What it lacks in answers, it more than returns in grace"
		Tim Robey Telegraph	"A beautiful performance from Normal People's Paul Mescal. In this evocative late 90s-set drama, the Irish actor consolidates his position as one of the most gifted actors of his generation. (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Anna Bogutskaya Time Out	"The easy pace brings out the best in her performers, and the chemistry between Mescal and Corio plays out effortlessly. The light moments between them are warm and the darker ones linger heavily (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Mark Kermode The Guardian	"Charlotte Wells’s debut feature is a stylistically daring, emotionally piercing and beautifully understated tale of love and loss (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Anna Smith Deadline	"As a writer, Wells is excellent at dialogue that feels authentic, informative and witty (...) It certainly feels like a very personal piece of work, and all the better for it"
		Ben Kenigsberg rogerebert.com	"What makes the film special has nothing to do with story and everything to do with how Wells has broken down the push-pull dynamic between father and daughter into poetic, thoroughly cinematic moments"
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"[It] isn’t just an honest movie about the way that we remember the people we’ve lost (...) it’s also a heart-stopping act of remembering unto itself. Wells creates a film that gradually echoes far beyond its frames"
		Rory O'Connor The Film Stage	"'Aftersun' is both a rich sensory experience and unbearably sad. It's also one of the best debuts to play at the Cannes Film Festival in years"
		Dustin Chang Screen Anarchy	"A poignant and deeply personal examination of memories (...) A touching tribute to a father-daughter relationship"
		Donald Clarke Irish Times	"What really sets the film apart is the way it subtly communicates an enormous sadness lurking just beneath the surface (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Chase Hutchinson Collider	"One of the most sublime films of the year so far"
		Fabien Lemercier Cineuropa	"With her first feature film, 'Aftersun', Charlotte Wells has immediately established a singular voice full of finesse and ultra-sensitivity"
		Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter	"By withholding conventional narrative explanations, writer-director Wells heightens the immediacy of the movie (...) A memory piece with a powerful afterglow"
		Elena Lazic The Playlist	"Essentially plotless, the film strings together a series of moments (...) Bold acrobatics in editing and ambitious creative choices feel all the more superfluous next to Mescal's effortless charisma"
		Pat Brown Slant	"A heartbreaking portrait of a father-daughter relationship (...) Deftly constructed and utterly heartbreaking, 'Aftersun' announces Charlotte Wells as an eminent storyteller of prodigious powers (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Richard Lawson Vanity Fair	"The film isn’t merely some metatextual exercise, though. It’s deeply felt, a warm embodiment of a liminal time in life"
		Jesse Hassenger Paste Magazine	"In its gentle, modest way, 'Aftersun' might well break your heart"
		Mae Abdulbaki Screen Rant	"Wells masterfully weaves the past and present together, and it’s in the exploration of one’s memory where the drama is at its best (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Murtada Elfadl AV Club	"Wells is undeniably a major discovery, and if its own flaws are the result of its filmmaker’s not yet mature eye, 'Aftersun' announces the arrival of an artistic voice that moviegoers will be watching for many years to come"
		James Mottram Radio Times	"Paul Mescal hits new heights in the best British movie this year (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

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