Film Shapes

Who, or what, is the foe? If we assume Saoirse Ronan's wistful Hen is the focus of the film, then is it her husband Junior, played by Paul Mescal? Or maybe Aaron Pierre's shifty Terrance, an off-world development rep for a company called Outermore? Possibly the actual foe is humanity, especially those that fucked up the Earth enough to warrant living in space. There are quite a few runners and riders here for the titular prize, but this is in contrast with how many speaking parts fill the screen. Aside from Ronan, Mescal and Pierre, there are voices coming from the radio, as well as diegetic music vocals, and that's your lot, chum.  Foe is as pared back as they come, almost theatrical in tone. There is a lot to unpack here - Artificial Intelligence, the ethics of cloning, relationship breakdown, global heating, gender equality, and probably something else I missed. Ambitious is putting it mildly. I'll describe in broad strokes - Hen and Junior live in a nigh-on uninhabi...

Aftersun is a fitting title for this top-notch drama set in a coastal resort in Turkey in the late 90s. Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio play father and daughter, Calum and Sophie - it later becomes evident that Calum is separated from Sophie's mother. The title suits because this holiday is potentially the last moment to be cherished between Sophie and Calum, the sun that all following events are compared to. It may also be giving a nod to all the evening scenes, the film certainly eschews the bright and shiny cliches of holiday resorts. There's a fantastic chemistry between Mescal and Corio. Mescal's portrayal of a seemingly stable bloke dealing with mental health issues is wonderfully understated. There's really only one openly emotional burst, the rest he conveys with stares, downcast eyes and Tai Chi. Corio, on debut, is superb as Sophie, a girl calmly grappling with the onset of puberty. Her interactions with older kids at the resort feel spot on and writer/director...