Brighter Days Ahead – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Brighter Days Ahead

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

movie2025

68%

WISE Score

8.4

IMDb

Ariana Grande's directorial debut: a melancholic short about an elderly woman erasing her memories—basically 'Eternal Sunshine' meets music video.

8.4/10

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Brighter Days Ahead

movie

NR, 2025

68%

WISE Score

8.4

IMDb

Ariana Grande's directorial debut: a melancholic short about an elderly woman erasing her memories—basically 'Eternal Sunshine' meets music video.

8.4

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Screenwise Verdict

Here's the thing: this is a short film that comes with a deluxe album, which means it's essentially a 20-minute music video with pretensions. And that's not necessarily bad!

The concept is genuinely interesting—elderly Peaches revisiting idealized memories before erasing them forever is heavy, thoughtful stuff. The 8.4 IMDb and 4.3 Letterboxd ratings suggest people who've seen it found it moving. But let's be real: this is for Ariana Grande fans and film nerds who loved 'Eternal Sunshine,' not for family movie night.

The complete absence of content ratings, detailed reviews, or broader distribution info makes this hard to fully evaluate. It's clearly aimed at an older teen/adult audience given its themes of aging, memory loss, and existential reflection. If you're looking for something light and fun, this ain't it. If you want to see a pop star flex her directorial muscles on something genuinely ambitious and sad, it might be worth the watch—just know what you're getting into.

Age Fit

Best for teens and adults (14+) who can appreciate abstract, melancholic storytelling about memory and aging. Younger kids will find it boring and confusing; this is art-film territory packaged as a pop star's passion project.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

A reflective meditation on memory, aging, and letting go. The premise of an elderly woman revisiting idealized memories before they're destroyed carries emotional weight and models acceptance of life's passages. However, the melancholic tone and themes of erasure may feel heavy rather than uplifting for younger viewers.

Imaginative

Strong conceptual creativity as Ariana Grande's directorial debut, building on 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' mythology and extending her 'We Can't Be Friends' music video narrative. The idea of revisiting and destroying memories through a fictional company invites philosophical questions about identity and what we choose to remember. High marks for ambitious storytelling.

Safe

No content ratings available, but the premise suggests emotional intensity rather than graphic content. The themes of memory erasure and end-of-life reflection could be emotionally challenging for younger viewers but aren't inherently unsafe. The 'Eternal Sunshine' inspiration suggests melancholy rather than violence or explicit content. Without more data, scoring cautiously moderate-high.

Enriching

Tackles meaningful themes about memory, identity, aging, and what we hold onto versus what we let go. The narrative continuation from music video to short film shows artistic ambition. Strong user ratings (8.4 IMDb, 4.3 Letterboxd) suggest it resonates emotionally. However, as a music-adjacent short film, its broader educational or developmental value may be limited compared to feature-length character-driven narratives.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Ambitious artistic project that extends Grande's musical universe into film, showing creative evolution beyond pop music
Tackles genuinely weighty themes about memory, identity, and what we choose to remember or forget as we age
Strong user ratings (8.4 IMDb, 4.3 Letterboxd) suggest it connects emotionally with viewers who've seen it
The 'Eternal Sunshine' inspiration provides a rich conceptual foundation for exploring consciousness and loss

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What to Watch For

This is a short film bundled with an album—it's essentially an extended music video, not a traditional narrative film experience
Heavy emotional themes about aging, memory loss, and erasure may be too abstract or sad for younger kids
You'll need context from the 'We Can't Be Friends' music video and ideally familiarity with 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' to fully appreciate it
Virtually no content rating or detailed review data available yet—proceed with caution if you're sensitive to unexpected emotional content

Conversation Starters

"If you could erase one memory, would you? What would you lose along with it?"
"Why do you think older Peaches wants to remember the 'idealized' versions instead of what really happened?"
"What's a memory you have that you'd never want to forget, even if it makes you sad sometimes?"

Stills

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