Aloft (2014) Reviews

• BEWARE: US theatrical release is cut by at least 15 minutes

  paul-allaer2015-07-11

  Some time ago, my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati started showing the trailer for this movie (which now is 1 1/2 yr. old), and I was really looking forward to seeing it. Then the trailer disappeared, and finally this weekend the movie showed up. I figured this would not be playing long so I went to see it right away. "Aloft" (2014 release from Canada-Spain-France; running time: TBD) opens with the character played by Jennifer Connelly (later we learn her name is Nana) and her two young boys, named Ivan and Gully, trying to catch a ride somewhere out in a remote 9and very cold) area in Canada. They go to a mysterious gathering of what looks to be a faith healer. Shortly thereafter we are informed "20 Years Later", where we get to know now grown-up Ivan, married and with a young baby. One day a Canadian journalist shows up out of the blue at Ivan's house. She informs him she is going up into the Arctic circle to go interview his mom and she wonders if Ivan wants to join her. At this point we're not even 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience. Couple of comments: firsts, this movie is written and directed by Peruvian director Claudia Llosa. She previously brought us the outstanding movie "The Milk of Sorrow", so that, along with the intriguing trailer, had given me high hopes for "Aloft". Alas, things are not that simple: "Aloft" is not a straight-forward movie, and it takes a LOT of time before I was able to piece together what the heck was going on. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it does require serious paying attention to the movie. The director jumps back and forth between the two story lines (separated by 20 years) throughout mots of the movie. The Big Reveal comes about 75 min. into the movie, and from then on I was very much into it. Second, Jennifer Connelly brings an outstanding performance as Nana, not always a likable character. Connelly is intense and emotive. Also nice work from Cillian Murphy as the grown-up Ivan, and last but not least also kudos to the 2 boys playing the young Ivan and Gully. However, I have a major complaint about this release. It was listed at the theater and also here on IMDb as having a running time of 112 min. The version that I saw in the theater was at least 15 minutes shorter. When I started looking into it, I read the plot summary as it's posted on Wikipedia, and there I learned of several KEY PLOT points that were missing entirely from the cut that I saw. As you can imagine, I am completely disgusted with the US theatrical release and, regardless of the ultimate quality of the movie (which is not bad, although certainly not without challenges), I cannot recommend to anyone to see this movie in the theater. I have no idea whether the subsequent DVD/Blu-ray release will have the original longer version or the US shorter version, or both. Sadly, this is not the first, not the second, nor the third or last time this has happened to foreign movies being released in the US. VIEWER BEWARE!!!!!

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• Probably the most well acted movie I've ever seen

  socrates992016-06-05

  An unusual film about a healer and what it cost her to be one, set in Canada's far north. The three adult principals are flawless. The two child actors are flawless too. If nothing else it's worth seeing these performances which should impress even the most hard-hearted of critics. The story itself is rather slight. A woman is recognized as having the gift by another healer but her own family problems might not withstand her acceptance of her gift. Aside from that it's about relationships between a mother and her two sons, and perhaps also about a loving mother trying to live mostly through her emotions. The real value of the film is how it seems to represent a breakthrough for all of the actors involved. Cillian Murphy, Jennifer Connelly, and Melanie Laurent are all unforgettably good. The two McGrath brothers are irreplaceable.

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• Numbing drama co-produced by Spain/Canada /France with big name actors and slow direction

  ma-cortes2015-09-21

  In the opening scenes of the brooding titled ¨Aloft¨ or ¨No Llores Vuela¨ , a young boy carrying a falcon rushes along with his mom (Jennifer Connelly) across a bleak , frozen stretch of road in the Arctic , on their way to see a mysterious faith healer . She is Nana , a single , working-class mother desperately seeking a solution for her youngest child Gully (Winta McGrath) , who suffers from a brain tumor , while also dealing with her precocious , restless older son Ivan (Zen McGrath). Nana lives in northern Manitoba , working part-time on a farm , where she is having an affair with her married boss and attempting to raise her two young sons . In a last-ditch effort to save him from his terminal illness she drags her kids to that aforementioned faith healer (William Shimell) . Later on , us we follow a mother and her grown-up son (Cillian Murphy) . Nana has a great strength , almost stoicism, and she will become a renowned artist as well as healer , and he will grow into his own as an expert falconer married to an attractive woman (Oona Chaplin) . In the present , that puts the very meaning of life and art into question , so that we may contemplate the possibility of living life to its fullest , despite the uncertainties littering our paths . Tracking a journey by a documentarian , Jannia (Mélanie Laurent ), and her subject (Cillian Murphy) toward the North Pole . As journalist Jannia and accomplished falconer Ivan brave punishing winds and frozen but crackling lakes to visit his strange mother . There takes place an encounter between the two that will bring the very meaning of their lives into question . This Faith-Healing drama is moody , downbeat , slowly paced , somber , dark and attempts to comment on humanity , or the lack of such in the world . ¨Aloft¨ is as remote as its Arctic setting , as the story is certainly rare but with great actors though protagonists leave us cold . Like cheeks on a freezing day , any curiosity or interest the sparse script engenders is puckered dry by the end , leaving behind only an irritating numbness ; and including some ethereal , semi-supernatural roots . The picture relies heavily on the thunderous relationship between a troubled woman who gets reacquainted with her adult son ; both of whom marked from a past event marred by an accident that tears them apart . The family's tough-to-follow saga is one of abandonment and reunion , with filmmaker as well as writer Claudia Llosa showing both to be equally taxing in their own ways . The film holds itself at an icy remove from its audience , rendering its characters as impenetrable as if they were encased in ice . Nice performances from Jennifer Connelly as a struggling mummy encounters the son she abandoned 20 years earlier , delving her evolution to becoming a renowned healer , Cilliam Murphy as a peculiar falconer who bears the marks of a double absence and Mélanie Laurent as the young journalist will bring about an encounter between the two main starring . The freewheeling camera often stays close on the important cast , which also includes Oona Chaplin , William Shimell and Ian Tracey . Furthermore , a colorful , cold and evocative cinematography by Nicolas Bolduc . Sensitive and and relaxing musical score by Michael Brook . This thoughtful , meditative , thought-provoking , but deceptive flick was regularly directed by Peruvian director Claudia Llosa who previously directed the magical realism-infused 2009 drama titled "The Milk of Sorrow" , it told the story of a rare disease transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy . This was her first English-language film titled "Aloft" , like her prior two features — debut "Madeinusa" and Golden Bear-winning follow-up "The Milk Of Sorrow" , "Aloft" boasts Llosa's magnificently lyrical eye for photography and her unassailable slickness to originate a haunted , slightly otherworldly atmosphere even out of banal happenings .

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• Not as bad as the critics say

  meganbeneski2015-06-01

  I was anxiously awaiting the release of Aloft in the US because I really enjoy the work of the two lead actors, Jennifer Connelly and Cillian Murphy. The film was in competition at the Berlin Film Festival last year so, there were plenty of reviews out there for me to read beforehand. I finally had a chance to watch it and in my opinion the critics missed the point of this film. They were in search of obvious plot points and cleanly presented character arcs. But, there is none of that. It is a melancholy film to be sure. The characters are existing in an environment lacking love, levity, hope and basic comfort (beautifully realized by the bleak environment of the frozen wilds of Canada.) Jennifer Connelly's character, Nana, is a single mother raising two boys; Gully who is terminally ill and Ivan who is woefully unloved and overlooked. Nana is not a sympathetic character in the least. She sees her circumstances as permission to inflict whatever poor choices she wishes on those around her and her choices run the gamete of self-indulgent to self- destructive. When she chooses to leave Ivan her rationalizations are flimsy and cruel and really only a justification for her to "get out" and put herself first. Cillian Murphy is subtly enthralling as a grown up Ivan. Raised in an environment of very little joy Ivan progresses from an unhappy, sullen boy into a short-tempered, hermit of a man that seethes with anger and distrust. There are moments throughout the film that show Ivan's vulnerability and capacity for sweetness. Like when he is training his beloved falcon or playing with his own son. But, he is damaged and guarded. The result of being unloved and discarded. The story is told in two separate timelines approximately 20 years apart and flashbacks help fill in the story of the boys before they are separated from their mother. Details are few and the circumstances of what caused the rift between Nana and Ivan are not fully realized until the end. I do feel like the depiction of the characters, flawed as they are, was realistic. Their choices were selfish, rooted in anger and hurt. But, it is a picture of the pain of physical and emotional abandonment and ultimately survivor's guilt. It shows that the choices that we make profoundly affect those around us and those ripples can be felt for a lifetime. There are no happy endings or neatly defined explanations for why people do what they do to the people that they love, this film depicts that ambiguity in a lovely way.

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• Wonderful Cast Wasted in a Messy Screenplay

  claudio_carvalho2017-08-11

  "Aloft" is one of those films that it is impossible to write a synopsis. The screenplay is so messy that the viewer will probably ask in the end of the movie what the story is about. There are heartbreak moments, like for example when Ivan asks his little brother Gully to jump off the truck that is sinking in a frozen lake. But the story is a whole is a complete mess. It is also heartbreaking to see Jennifer Connelly, Mélanie Laurent, Cillian Murphy among others wasted in such a bad film. My vote is three. Title (Brazil): "Marcas do Passado" ("Marks from the Past")

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