Aloft (2014)

A struggling mother encounters the son she abandoned 20 years earlier.

Director:

Claudia Llosa

Writer:

Claudia Llosa

Stars:

Jennifer Connelly, Cillian Murphy, Mélanie Laurent

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jennifer Connelly	...	Nana Kunning
Cillian Murphy	...	Ivan
Mélanie Laurent	...	Jannia Ressmore
William Shimell	...	Newman
Peter McRobbie	...	Ike
Andy Murray	...	Lance
Ian Tracey	...	Hans
Oona Chaplin	...	Alice
Winta McGrath	...	Gully
Zen McGrath	...	Young Ivan
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Judy Cook	...	Airplane Receptionist
Nancy Drake	...	Old Woman
Allan Wallace Dunkeld	...	Boy at Hotel
Cam Gates	...	Volunteer
Erika Marxx	...	Woman 3

Storyline

As we follow a mother (Jennifer Connelly) and her son (Cillian Murphy), we delve into a past marred by an accident that tears them apart. She will become a renowned artist and healer, and he will grow into his own as a peculiar falconer who bears the marks of a double absence. In the present, a young journalist (Mélanie Laurent) will bring about an encounter between the two 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.

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Plot Keywords:

troubled marriage | arctic | falcon | dysfunctional family | canada | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexuality

Details

Country:

Spain Canada France

Language:

English French

Release Date:

23 January 2015 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Cry/Fly

Filming Locations:

Manitoba, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,012, 17 July 2015, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$52,961, 9 August 2015

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wanda Visión S.A.,Arcadia Motion Pictures,Buffalo Gal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 97 min (dvd)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene of Jenia and Ivan walking across the frozen lake at night were filmed on an actual frozen lake and at night. Director Claudia Llosa had great difficulty to get the go ahead for the night time shoot on the lake because it was deemed too dangerous.

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Quotes

Young Ivan: [shouting] So what? He was just going to die anyway!

User Reviews

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

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 .