"Aloft" is a film from last year written and directed by Claudia Llosa. It was her 3rd full feature film, but first long movie in 5 years after the Oscar-nominated "Milk of Sorrow". It was also her first work with big names from Hollywood such as Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, Cilian Murphy and Mélanie Laurent. The information on the IMDb page says that this one here runs for over 110 minutes, but the version I saw went roughly 20 minutes shorter.

This film play during two different times. The first would be when Murphy's character is still a little boy and we see how he gets disconnected with his mother, the second playing decades later when Murphy's character meets her again and also meets his love interest played by Laurent. I personally found that this film went mostly for emotion without elaborating convincingly on the characters. The apparently terminal illness of Laurent's character, the falcon shooting, the other boy's actually terminal illness etc. It felt like this film wanted to get the audience to cry at all costs, but forget to deliver in terms of storytelling unfortunately. This is also why overall I cannot really recommend this movie. Quite a shame as the actors are certainly talented.

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 .

After watching this a second time, I wanted to jot down a word or two or three--especially after reading some critics' reviews.

Films have such a unique effect on each individual that I don't really vibe with the word "review" when reading people's comments. I always view them rather as our opinions, feelings and interpretations of a movie--I know that's not an earth-shattering new thought or anything...

Thank god for films like this. Amongst the world of overly-saturated big-budge moneymakers, I relish these types of films, always have. Sure, this may not be the most forthcoming and understandable film right out the gate; but with an open mind and a desire for unique storytelling, this film can speak volumes to a viewer. The cinematography (esp. close-up shots) and acting alone are some of the finest pieces of art I've seen. I'm also slightly biased as I am a mad fan of all three main cast members; their performances are so incredibly real as they disappear so seamlessly into their characters that I can be truly convinced they are living this story.

Each character is so tragically beautiful and strong, but it's Mélanie's character that I resonate with the most--being young and dealing with an illness, trying to mask it and stay strong to reach whatever goal it is you can possible accomplish to heal yourself. I have lived my own version of this, and she performed it f*cking beautifully.

Yes I had some trouble following along the first time through, but I just went with it--there was something about this film that I was OK doing that, letting the story guide me and not inserting my judgments along the way, which is not always the case with me and other movies. It's hard to explain. Even if it's a challenge to grasp the overarching themes/meaning of a film, identifying with or relating to just one element in a story can be enough to strike a cord and change something about a person, in the way they think or go about life or, etc. That's the beauty of storytelling.

Also, after reading other comments, it sounds like I may have not viewed the director's cut, but a 15-min shorter version, which is a bummer because I was feeling like something wasn't being shown between Cillian's & Mélanie's characters when it seemed like they became incredibly close through their journey together towards the end. I could tell there was probably something going on between them, but the other scenes alluding to this weren't enough for me. Hoping to see a non-US version eventually.