Jo Hess is confronted with love amidst a divorce when the love of her life, her boyfriend from high-school, reaches out to her out of the blue.

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Review by Victoria Angelique:

The film, AFTER THE FREEZE, follows a newly divorced woman as she tries to figure out what her life is now by reflecting on the past. Jo is a very complicated character, as she deals with reconnecting with the ex-boyfriend from her teenage years and dealing with her ex-husband as they attempt to co-parent their daughter. She is emotional and needs a friend to make her see the other side of these breakups.

The majority of the story is told through text messages that pop-up on the screen. This is a very interesting filmmaking technique as the audience can literally read what is going on in each character’s head. This method of telling the story makes the film quite relevant with audiences in their twenties or teenagers as it reflects reality, where they seem to communicate more through text messages rather than having spoken conversations. The characters are also written to appeal to the Gen-Z or GenAlpha target, with Jo being someone that seems like she’s pulled from the stereotypical norm from that generation by using her phone to communicate rather than meeting with another person to talk out the issues.

The character of Jo is quite complex, as shown from the second the audience meets her. She’s focused on her poetry and when she texts her high school boyfriend, it makes sense why the flashbacks are suddenly coming back for her. She is able to use poetry and text messages to convey how depressed she feels at this moment, which allows Jo to remain in her head in this story of character evolution. This is what the audience is noticing through the film in Jo’s perspective, she is having to deal with everyday issues and the audience can see how this particular character has to overcome the urge to fall back on her insecurities. She is quick to jump to conclusions, only having the realization that there is more to the world and people not responding to text messages when she learns that the ex that she’s been talking to had stopped responding because he had a seizure. 

This is quite an innovative film, through the filmmaking techniques and using one character to tell the story. The audience can see the character arc of Jo as she processes what her world is and knows she still has more to learn, but the film ends with her being open to finding her happiness once again as she continues to process her world.