NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� A normal morning scene. Breakfast on the kitchen table. A newspaper rustles. A backpack is packed. The mother asks her teenage daughter if she鈥檒l be home later. 鈥淚t鈥檚 Tuesday, so, um, I鈥檓 going to go to Dad鈥檚.鈥�
The look of concern on the mother鈥檚 face, and the tone of the school day's interactions, give a sense of some unspoken loss hanging over the girl. Each detail tugs at you until finally, after the girl has spent the afternoon alone in the dying light of her father鈥檚 apartment, her mother arrives to quietly take her home.
So unfolds the first short film by the 35-year-old Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells, and one that bears many of the hallmarks found in her shattering feature debut, It, too, centers on a young girl and her father. It, too, radiates with the glow of memory while coursing with an undertow of grief.
鈥淚 made the first one without ever considering who would see it and why. It was an exercise for myself. A few people responded very strongly to it, but it was a few. Like, 10% would be generous," Wells says. "But when they did, it was a very meaningful response. It seemed very sincere. That was always enough for me.鈥�
Many more have been moved by 鈥淎蹿迟别谤蝉耻苍.鈥� Devastated, actually, is more like it. Since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, 鈥淎ftersun鈥� has accumulated a rare kind of buzz. Here was the uncommonly mature debut of a filmmaker of masterful control and deep wells of empathy. Here was the self-evident launch of a major new voice.
鈥淭he rumors,鈥� 鈥渁re true.鈥�
It was Wells鈥� shorts that first brought her to the attention of Barry Jenkins and Adele Romanski. While making they had coffee with Wells to talk about a possible feature. Two years later, Wells came back with a script. Romanski and Jenkins signed on to produce through Pastel, their production company formed with the intention of enabling young directors similar to how Plan B helped them make
鈥淭hrough that whole process, Charlotte always had faith in the ethereal gooey stuff that you can鈥檛 arrive at mathematically, that you can鈥檛 arrive at through some book on screenplay conventions,鈥� Jenkins says. 鈥淚 kind of describe it as a magic trick. As you watch the film, you get to those last two minutes, and you realize: 鈥楬oly s---, I鈥檝e arrived at this place and it feels like magic.鈥�
鈥淎ftersun,鈥� which A24 releases in select theaters Friday, stars newcomer Frankie Corio as 11-year-old Sophie who鈥檚 traveling with her father, Calum (Paul Mescal), on a summer vacation in Turkey. Gently poised from the perspective of an older Sophie we only vaguely see, the film is a memory piece. In many ways, it feels like a coming-of-age film. Sophie, teetering between childhood and young adulthood, is attracting the attention of older kids. But we gradually grasp that it鈥檚 not Sophie who鈥檚 sliding away from her dad. It鈥檚 Calum, wrestling with his own demons, who may be adrift.
Coming from her Brooklyn apartment and shortly before , Wells, who goes by 鈥淐harlie,鈥� met a reporter for coffee near Union Square in New York to reflect on a head-spinning year and some of the heartache behind 鈥淎蹿迟别谤蝉耻苍.鈥� Wells鈥� father died when she was 16.
鈥淗e lived in London for the most part when I was a kid. I spent a lot of time with him. He would come up a lot,鈥� Wells says, brightening with his memory. 鈥淗e was really loving and ambitious and super creative and probably had some ambition that I be a filmmaker, which is something that occurred to me only recently. I hate to think that I fulfilled some idea of what a parent wanted for me. My goal was to do the opposite.鈥�
Wells has sometimes spoken obliquely about the personal roots of 鈥淎ftersun,鈥� describing it as 鈥渆motionally autobiographical.鈥� But many details of the film have profound connections with her life. Sophie plays at times with a Mini-DV camera. Wells鈥� father gave her the same kind of camera as a teenager.
鈥淚 was always preoccupied with keeping a record of things visually,鈥� Wells says, describing how she shot friends and parties, including a last-day-of-school celebration before reluctantly changing schools. 鈥淚 recorded everybody and everything. It really froze that moment in time in a way that I felt like I could still slide back into it.鈥�
In writing 鈥淎ftersun,鈥� she played back old Mini-DV tapes that her father shot of her, sometimes drawing dialogue from the footage. The tapes prompted reflection about how memory and film intertwine.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a one-hour tape that I received well past being a teenager,鈥� says Wells. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a game of chess between us and his friend and everyone鈥檚 head is cut off. It鈥檚 just torsos. It鈥檚 like the cruelest joke that only I can find funny. It鈥檚 such a strange record to have and definitely had some impact on the film."
Her father, Wells says, exposed her to a lot of art, music and film 鈥� sometimes to 鈥渟tuff that was much cooler and more interesting than I was ready for,鈥� said Wells. 鈥淚t laid a foundation so that when I was ready on my own terms, I could find it.鈥�
鈥淢y mom would joke that his head was above the clouds and her feet were more firmly planted on the ground,鈥� Wells adds. 鈥淚n a lot of ways, I鈥檓 some combination of them that I appreciate. My feet are on the ground and my head is above the clouds." She laughs. "I鈥檓 just really tall."
Wells鈥� film education continued at New York University where she made several shorts. Even in her student films you can see an uncommon balance of subtlety and revelation. In Wells鈥� films, there鈥檚 often a surface reality and a hidden, more painful one. In which was inspired by a similar experience Wells had on the subway on her way to NYU, a young woman is sexually assaulted on a crowded train where no one notices 鈥� or, at least, no one seems to notice.
鈥淚 think 鈥楲aps鈥� is the least oblique,鈥� she says of the short, a prize-winner at Sundance and SXSW in 2017. 鈥淚f you miss what鈥檚 going on, I really think you don鈥檛 want to see what鈥檚 going on.鈥�
To Romanski, 鈥淎ftersun鈥� may be a step up into features, but there鈥檚 nothing 鈥渇irst film鈥� about it.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a deep belief that if someone like Charlotte does what they鈥檝e already demonstrated in 10 minutes what they鈥檙e capable of over 90 minutes 鈥� and if we do our job as producers 鈥� then you can arrive at a place like 鈥楢ftersun,鈥欌�� says Romanski.
Making it, though, meant toiling over every detail, carefully sculpting the film's precise but organic flow. 鈥淚 wrote so many openings and so many endings,鈥� Wells sighs. Jenkins, himself a maker of richly vivid, lyrical films that compress present and past, was intimately involved in the process. He estimates that through the edit, he鈥檚 seen the film 12 to 15 times.
鈥淭here were times I鈥檇 watch the damn film four times in a week,鈥� says Jenkins. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 have to watch it how these small moves make these massive ripples.鈥�
鈥淎ftersun鈥� has made its own waves playing on the festival circuit around the globe, including the New York Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Wells, who started out making movies as 鈥渁n exercise for myself鈥� has been surprised by how much 鈥淎ftersun鈥� has resonated with others.
鈥淎dele likes to remind me: 鈥楽ee, you would have been happy if only one person got your film,鈥欌�� Wells says, smiling. 鈥淏ut it has been nice, I鈥檒l admit, that more than one person has responded to this film, and that the ratio has been flipped a little. I don鈥檛 know why."
鈥淏ut I鈥檓 glad I never thought about what would happen when the credits rolled, until they rolled.鈥�
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
