Tim Roth ghosts his family for the beach life in the bleak, blank Sundown
Even on tropical vacation, Mexican provocateur Michel Franco keeps things icy

The meaning of “ghosting” has changed since the term entered the popular lexicon in 2015. At first, it meant the practice of ending established relationships by dropping all communication, sometimes blocking people on social media platforms, changing your number, or even moving away without warning. In the years since, it’s been applied to much tamer behavior, as everything from not texting back after a couple of unexciting dates or ignoring a DM from a long-forgotten classmate can get you labeled a ghoster.
Leave it to Mexican director Michel Franco to reclaim the word as an act of truly drastic abandonment. He’s re-teamed with Tim Roth, star of his earlier Chronic, for a drama that pushes the idea of ghosting to a brutal extreme. Of course, it looks tame compared to the ugly provocations for which Franco is known—including the empty nihilism of his last movie, New Order.
Sundown begins with a seemingly happy family on vacation. Tim Roth plays Neil, spending his time lounging by the pool and day drinking with Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Alexa (Albertine Kotting McMillan) and Colin (Samuel Bottomley). The food, drinks, and accommodations are all the height of luxury, tiny gongs sounding as elegant cocktails are served next to infinity pools. It takes a few scenes to even establish that the family is in Mexico, given the total absence of national signifiers.
A few days into the trip, a phone call brings news that the family matriarch has taken gravely ill and that everyone needs to return to London immediately. Alice is devastated—Franco, utilizing Gainsbourg’s peerless ability to seem hollowed out by sadness, has her crumpled and sobbing on the rush to the airport. Neil, on the other hand, barely raises an eyebrow, even when the news gets worse. His behavior, a relaxed numbness, takes a turn for the unusual. At the airport, he pretends to have left his passport at the hotel and promises to catch the next flight back to London. Instead, he jumps into a cab and gets dropped off at a cheap hotel by a crowded beach. Rather than make any attempt to join his family, he deposits himself on a plastic chair by the shore and makes his way through a bucket of beers while the ocean laps at his feet.