by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring

Here are three recommended feature films from this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival. Find showtimes and tickets here.

Aftersun (dir. Charlotte Wells)

One of the scariest concepts about parenthood is not knowing what memories will imprint on a child. Could it be a grand gesture, an expensive vacation or a toy? Is it something smaller, more innocuous, like a quiet moment or conversation? Or is it a moment where they discover their parents are flawed and fallible? Memory is the core subject Charlotte Wells interrogates in her impressive feature film debut. The tension and fragility of the relationship between Sophie (Francesca Corio) and her father, Calum (Paul Mescal) rises and falls over the course of their stay at a resort in Turkey. He seems to only see her once a year, but what is clear is that he seems like a young lost dad. Calum is mistaken for her older brother, money is tight, and he shows classic signs of depression. Sophie, aged 11, is right on the cusp of becoming a teenager. She is self-actualizing, observing older kids intently, trying to understand their social cues and relationships. But he still has a strong bond with her dad as they spend their holiday by the pool and taking in what the resort has to offer.

The film’s opening is shown from the videos that Calum and Sophie recorded on this trip, and the present day Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall) provides an infrequent but haunting presence throughout the film. Wells’ direction occasionally seems elliptical when it lingers on a moment longer than expected, but serves the memory-oriented mode of storytelling. By the end, she has constructed a softly devastating portrait of this relationship. Wells reminds us that “it’s the terror of knowing what this world is about,” with a sob-inducing needle drop. The most we can do is hold onto our important memories and try to understand the people we love.  

Rodeo (dir. Lola Quivoron)

Julia (Julie Ledru), who prefers to go by the moniker Unknown, loves riding motocross bikes more than anything. More than her brother, her job, or anything else. The film opens after her current bike has been stolen, but she quickly acquires another with a smart little heist. She pretends to be interested in buying a used one, shows up to inspect the bike, and says she will not buy it without riding it a little. She offers her purse with her keys and card as collateral, and then just takes off. This attitude carries her through life, an unearned arrogance substituting for confidence, not unlike the many men who don’t want her anywhere near motocross. Even when she finds a way into a local gang, it takes time for them to accept her, and some of them only do when she steals them a bike. 

Rodeo culminates in a heist that recalls the first The Fast and the Furious movie, small scale, but like the rest of the movie, shown with breathless desperation. The documentary style employed by Lola Quivoron in this debut feature is well-suited for this story, as each scene feels immediate, with the mood of each sequence conveyed through the editing rhythm and faces of the performers even more than dialogue. 

EO (dir. Jerzy Skolimowski)

Existing somewhere between a loose Pinocchio adaptation and a picaresque, but starring a donkey, EO deftly leverages our natural inclination for anthropomorphizing. Many shots within the film are of EO’s cute donkey face, or a closeup of his eyes. Skolimowski also places us in EO’s point of view through shallow depth of field, color changing, and low handheld camera work. Our brains do the rest, filling in some of the blankness with our own thoughts. The early adventures of EO clearly evoke the fulfillment of being loved and cared for as well as doing work that brings joy to others. As the film draws to a close, the animal rights and vegan messages emerge in sharp relief. EO is a feel-good film until it isn’t, making me even more thankful for the final act of Okja.