The 2022 Nashville Film Festival has kicked off, and I will bring you coverage from the entire festival. We have a loaded slate of films that are set to come out, and today I share everything I watched during the festival’s final day.

Aftersun

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.

Aftersun has a compelling story that never feels fully fleshed out. At times, the story is something that keeps you interested and other times it meanders around a bit much. While the relationship between Sophia and her father was a battle of some many things.

Being a single father, struggling to make it back on your feet while trying to stay afloat isn’t easy. I get what was trying to be said, but it just failed short on so many levels. The performances, cinematography and score all were outstanding but the script keeps it from being anything more meaninful.

Nanny

In this psychological fable of horror, Aisha (Anna Diop), a woman who recently emigrated from Senegal, is hired to care for the daughter of an affluent couple (Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Spector) living in New York City. Haunted by the absence of the young son she left behind, Aisha hopes her new job will afford her the chance to bring him to the U.S., but becomes increasingly unsettled by the family’s volatile home life. As his arrival approaches, a violent presence begins to invade both her dreams and her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together.

Excerpt from my review: Overall, Nanny is hands down one of the best movies of the year, and it’s the type of film that will linger around in my head for days, even months later. Incredible job from everyone involved in this project, and if you have the opportunity to catch this in theaters, please do because it plays tremendously on the big screen.

The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future

Cecilia travels to her father’s farm after he has a heart attack. Back in her childhood home, Cecilia is met by her long-deceased mother whose presence brings to life a painful past chorused by the natural world around them.

The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future is a captivating look at dealing with loss and attempting to recover from it. A pulsating score from composer Pierre Desprats and a poetic and beautiful performance by Leonor Varela makes this film poignant and robust. It will hit you emotionally at every turn. Very impressed by Francisca Alegria’s work on the film.