6 OF THE BEST
PICK OF THE MONTH
Team Empire on the month’s essential movies
AFTERSUN
OUT 20 FEBRUARY / CERT 12 / 101 MINS
A woozy, sun-kissed ’90s resort holiday with a father (Paul Mescal) and daughter (Frankie Corio) forms the basis of writer-director Charlotte Wells’ staggeringly impressive debut film. There’s a lot going on here, and also — in the lazy, long summer days — seemingly nothing at all. Told through home-video footage and flashbacks, it’s a portrait of the complex, ever-evolving relationship we have with our parents (and our memories), and a perfect distillation of that cliff-edge moment in childhood when adulthood is just around the corner yet many miles away. The filmmaking is often experimental, yet bold enough to have Chumbawamba and the ‘Macarena’ on the soundtrack. A very special, sad, evocative film.