RIFLE RANGE BOY: Message clearer when unsaid!

Aftersun(2022)

Director, Writer: Charlotte Wells

From the time of the Big Bang, the Universe is said to be moving at a pace of low entropy to one of high entropy. At low entropy, things seem harmonious, orderly and balanced. On the contrary, chaos rules on the other. Is that why our childhood was so serene, whereas our adult life is fraught with mayhem? Could it also be that 'Time', the essence of our existence, seemed longer when we were young? Imagine the time we had to wait for our next long school holiday when we had just finished one. It felt like aeons away, like forever. But then, now, a solar circle just whizzes by. We are heading towards total chaos!

Our memory of the past comes in flashes, like rays of light from a stroboscope. It is cluttered. It comes in flares and disappears just as quickly. The problem with memory is that it can be deceptive. It suppresses painful ones and glamourises pleasant ones.

When we were young, we were restless to grow older. We envy seeing all the things that were second nature to adults. We thought adults had it all under their control. Our parents were the pinnacle of perfection. They were role models, at least before we became teenagers. We begin not to see eye to eye.

Time is a cruel teacher. Only when we are in our parents' shoes do we realise that our parents were not perfect. They were fighting their own demons. They did what they did was right, within their means. We long to embrace them and show appreciation for what they have done. But sometimes, it is too late. The bridge to our past is our memory, photographs and videos.

The bond between a daughter and a father
need no overt dramatisation.

The mindless zillions of smartphone pictures we take without batting an eyelid may have its uses. Like in this movie, the grainy home movies with a camcorder in the 1990s have rekindled the nostalgia and the innocence of birthday parties and family holidays.

This slow-moving BBC Scotland production is an emotionally charged, highly tears-inducing movie that deserves all the accolades it received.

A 30-something mother of a young baby views her father's video recording of their last holiday in Turkey 20 years previously. It was a time when her parents were separated, and she went to spend her school holiday with her father. That was probably their last meeting, as the storyline suggested he was emotionally or financially going through a rough patch. There were glimpses of him being emotionally labile. Perhaps he committed suicide later.

That outing was also a coming-of-age event for that 11-year-old girl, and she emotionally connected with her father. Mature as she was at that time, as she was, she knew he had financial troubles and understood that the parents' separation was amicable with no malice; she regrets not being able to identify and help her father's depression.

A must-watch for those wanting to know how one can say so much without uttering a word at all. The camera, the environment, the lighting and body language do the talking. The message is more apparent when things are unsaid.

[PS Gives the vibes of the famous 1980's coming-of-age sitcom 'The Wonder Years'.]