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Reconciliation and nostalgia: Superb film

posted 2 years ago by Nostromo (242)
5 replies | jump to latest

A moving film about a girl reminiscing on a holiday to Turkey taken with her estranged father 20 years prior. The use of music is terrific, the two central performances are very touchingly delivered (Paul Mescal and the young Frankie Corio). It is one of the films of 2022. The fact this is Charlotte Wells' debut feature is nothing more than astonishing. She delivers massive assurance and confidence in direction, which pushes the narrative forward very tenderly as the girl (Sophie) tries to reconcile her relationship with her father Callum in two separate timelines.

Along the way we are given snippets of her father's troubles. Wells' very cleverly weaves in a subtext that works to a crescendo in the last 10 minutes which includes one of the most brilliant transition shots in recent cinema (not hyperbole, it really is brilliant). The viewer is invited to join the dots on what has happened between the two timelines and there are several clues that help.

Wells' debut has a familiarity with the work of fellow Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, and in particular her film 'Morvern Callar'. This feels lie the birth of another great director.

9.3/10

[–] MichaelJPollock (651) a year ago

Dear Nostromo,

Can't thank you enough for recommending this film. What an incredible, marvelous and extremely moving (first) film. Definitely my favorite of 2022. And to think I had to wait until the last day of the year to discover it!

This film gently and subtly breaks your heart. Such incredible yet subtle and non-obtrusive cinematography and editing: it's not affected in the least, and yet floors you with two shots and one cut....
It did also remind me of Ramsay's Morven Callar (with a touch of Terence Davies as well and some of his trademark slow 360 shots).

There are of course very few things as pure and beautiful as the love of a preteen daughter for her father, at an age where he's still very much the "man of her life" but she's about to enter in a whole other world of complicated relationships, choices and heartbreaks.

The sometimes ominous mise-en-scene also very efficiently translates the anxieties of a single father trying to find the right balance of not smothering a bright and kind daughter but also making sure she's safe (all the while dealing with his own abandonment issues).

Charlotte Wells definitely understands cinema and is a director to follow, assuredly.
Cinema might not be (just quite) dead after all...

[–] SickSpazmoid (746) a year ago

Subtle is the right word. I liked how on the surface the tone is mostly positive but actually it isn't. Subtlety and excellent natural acting and filming.

[–] GhostOfIMDB (53) a year ago

This was a very touching movie. Frankie Corio did an amazing job in this debut role.

[–] prolelol (1423) a year ago

First of all, great post! I have a spoiler question.

Can anyone give me a theory why the dad left her?

[–] phony (215) a year ago

You mean when she got locked outside the room? Because by the end, im pretty sure its implied that he commited suicide, if thats what you mean by leaving. Throught the film there are many instances where he adopts a reckless behaviour and presents subtle hints of suicidal ideation/depression (standing on the edge of the balcony, removing the cast by himself, crying alone, spitting on the mirror, picking up a cigarette from the ground and smoking it, etc). And thats why he recklessly leaves her alone that night as well.