The After

The After promotional image

Streaming on: Netflix

Language: English

CC: English

Genre: Short, Drama

Content warnings: violence, death, suicide, grief

The opening of this powerful and beautiful short brought an automatic smile to my face. I was a school teacher for 11 years (pre-K all the way up to 8th grade) and I still absolutely adore heartfelt caregiver and child interactions. As much as I don't want to write out that its also refreshing and heartwarming to watch a father choose his family (his daughter specifically) over his job. It is devastating to watch his child and his wife ripped away from him in a moment because of violence. The way a life can change in a moment and in ways one can never predict, is masterfully done. The way your entire trajectory can so suddenly shift and how our impact as individuals remains long after we've left this existence. That love and pain are forever intertwined no matter how much the Disney style of fairy tale wants us to only focus on love as a warm, happy, positive component of life.

I entirely understand why this film is up for an Oscar this year.

The raw range of emotions this 18 minute film teases and tugs out of its watchers is breathtaking. The cinematography captivating and beautifully representative of walking around and existing in the real world. If you're a crier like me, I highly advise having some tissues on hand to watch this one. If you've recently or ever really lost someone suddenly, without a chance to say goodbye, in ways that you may ever wish you could just turn back time to a single moment and make some other different seemingly small decision... be prepared to get in touch with some of those feelings/memories when you watch this. But without a doubt if you have access to Netflix give this film a chance, it's deeply worth the 18 minutes of your time.

For the record my tissue count was 4.