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Tuesday, December 6, 2022

AFTERSUN (2022)

Currently winning awards on the indie circuit, especially in Britain, this memory film about a divorced dad and his eleven-yr-old daughter bonding (and tentatively beginning teenage separation) over a school holiday in the Mediterranean, is well-observed & touching, charming & ultimately a little too slight.  Paul Mescal is super as the understanding, if occasionally befuddled father, clearly seeing a near future with less access.  Newcomer Frankie Corio is the girl, either too old or too young for most of the people at the resort.  (In a surprise, the one age-appropriate romantic partner around is downright chubby.)  In her first feature, writer/director Charlotte Wells is too fond of obfuscating ‘cinematic’ razzle-dazzle.  Adding confusion & filler to beef up the running time?  And are the scenes showing the grown up Corio character thinking back really necessary?  The lack of SmartPhones let us known where we are.  But the happy memories turn sour at an unfortunate karaoke night event (Corio some kind of awful singer!) which sets up some unexpectedly strong/serious relationship drama before Wells finds a gentle way back.  (In a lovely shot focused entirely on Mescal’s back.*)  The film’s truthful modesty most becoming.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *But not the scene in our poster.

DOUBLE-BILL: In the ‘sixties, it was teens rather than ‘tweens’ who rebelled.  Delightfully brought off in the rarely revived THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT/’64.  Peter Sellers stars, but the film belongs to its two 14-yr-olds: one middle-class/one rich.

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