FILM #7
OF 39
95TH ACADEMY AWARDS | 2023 OSCARS CHALLENGE
“AFTERSUN”
FEBRUARY 5, 2023
SCREENER
DAY 13
OF 48
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Paul Mescal
Tell me the last film you saw representing single fathers. Tell me the last one you saw depicting depression. Somehow, “Aftersun” broaches both topics with a unique, subdued touch.
I wish “Aftersun” had come with a disclaimer. Somewhere it needs to be stated that this is not your typical dramatic narrative, although it may look that way on the surface. As viewers, we’ve grown accustomed to plot structures where characters and settings are established (which Charlotte Wells does beautifully). Then, a problem arises that the characters must overcome. There isn’t any of that here.
Paul Mescal plays Calum, the young, single father in question, who goes on vacation with his daughter, Sophie, played by 11-year-old Frankie Corio. Both play their roles with maturity beyond their years. Calum struggles with depression, which isn’t clearly stated but pokes through in glaring moments of clarity. Sophie is coming-of-age as she finds herself hanging out with the older kids at the Turkish resort, flirting with a boy her age at the arcade, and not aware of what is going on with her father other than he doesn’t want to sing karaoke with her, a tradition they’ve shared for years.
I wasn’t a fan of “Aftersun” while watching it because, as I stated, I was expecting something to happen that never came. Instead, the film is more of a character study. It’s a slice of life. Calum and Sophie live these parallel lives away from each other and come together to interact during this week-long holiday. Wells also takes it a step further and introduces an older Sophie, looking back at the video cassettes she recorded while with her father, picking up on things she never noticed as a kid.
Being a single father of two young girls myself, it struck me how monumental it was for me after the film was over. Calum’s simmering depression and how he deals with it is the element that allows Mescal some veracity. Despite not being autobiographical to Charlotte Wells, it feels wholly personal.
PREVIOUS NOMINATIONS
Paul Mescal
| First-time nominee |
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t…
Directed by Charlotte Wells
A24
October 21, 2022
101 minutes
ACCOLADES
BAFTA Awards — Best Leading Actor (Nominee)
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Austin Film Critics Association Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Chlotrudis Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Columbus Film Critics Association Awards — Best Lead Performance (Nominee)
Critics Choice Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Denver Film Critics Society Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
DiscussingFilm Critics Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
European Film Awards — European Actor (Nominee)
Festival du nouveau cinéma — Best Actor/Actress Award [Winner]
Film Independent Spirit Awards — Best Lead Performance (Nominee)
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
GALECA: Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics Awards — Film Performance of the Year (Nominee)
Georgia Film Critics Association Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Gotham Awards — Outstanding Lead Performance (Nominee)
Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Hollywood Critics Association Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Indiana Film Journalists Association Awards — Best Lead Performance (Nominee)
International Cinephile Society Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Latino Entertainment Journalists Association Film Awards — Best Actor in a Leading Role (Nominee)
London Critics Circle Film Awards — Actor of the Year (Nominee)
Music City Film Critics’ Association Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
National Society of Film Critics Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
North Dakota Film Society Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Online Association of Female Film Critics Awards — Best Male Lead (Nominee)
Online Film Critics Society Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Seattle Film Critics Society Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Sunset Film Circle Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards — Best Actor [Winner]
UK Film Critics Association Awards — Actor of the Year (Nominee)
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards — Best Male Actor (Nominee)
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards — Best Actor (Nominee)
EXPERT PREDICTIONS
1. Brendan Fraser — “The Whale”
2. Austin Butler — “Elvis”
3. Colin Farrell — “The Banshees of Inisherin”
4. Bill Nighy — “Living”
5. Paul Mescal — “Aftersun”
PERSONAL PREDICTIONS
1. Austin Butler — “Elvis”
2. Colin Farrell — “The Banshees of Inisherin”
3. Brendan Fraser — “The Whale”
4. Paul Mescal — “Aftersun”
5. Bill Nighy — “Living”
