Alamar (To the Sea) (2009)
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 45
Fresh: 41 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 944
Movie Info
A young boy and his father learn about living in harmony with nature in this languid drama from filmmaker Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio. A man from Mexico (Jorge Machado) travels to Italy and falls in love with a beautiful local woman (Roberta Palombini). Their feelings for one another are strong, but they prove to be short lived, and when they decide to beak up after the birth of their son Natan, he returns to Mexico while she stays in Italy and takes primary custody of the child. However, the father
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All Critics (46) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (41) | Rotten (4) | DVD (2)
So little is said on any subject that we're free to make our own conclusions about the world Natan inhabits.
"Alamar" takes a lyrical approach to a story about father-son bonding in the tropics. It's as sketchy as it is beautiful.
It is to González-Rubio's credit that he can celebrate nature so joyously, yet suggest neither the preferred lifestyle of either parent is superior to the other.
As much home movie as neorealist non-narrative, Alamar provides a nearly hypnotic immersion in the brilliantly aqua, impossibly tranquil Caribbean -- a Paradise Regained not just for Natan but for everyone.
Moving but never sentimental, ambient but rigorously focused, this is an assured, refreshingly simple film where the dramas and responsibilities of parenthood exist inside a bubble of blissed-out tropicalia.
Pedro González-Rubio takes the viewer on a leisurely journey through the timeless ritual of catching and cleaning fish, and the natural progression of paternal love over the course of a few days.
Alamar is a slow, beautiful meditation on nature, family and the relationship between father and son.
It's hard to tell whether this line has been scripted or captured, but it packs an emotional punch all the same.
An extraordinary portrait of a positive and meaningful father-son relationship that touches the heart.
A beautifully shot and carefully nuanced look at the forging of a bond between a father and a son.
The opposite of stimulating storytelling: It's a pseudo-vacation.
Mexico's Alamar arrives like a breath of fresh air reminding us of cinema's potential for simple and elegant beauty.
Magical portrait of one five-year-old's summer with his fisherman father
Even with the cast playing themselves and a good premise, the idea to script only some of the film ends up creating a series of disconnected sequences.
A remarkably pure cinema experience, not just because it's about selfless parental devotion but because the film itself has been stripped down to the basics.
The film does a good job of suggesting that this will be a likely outcome, yet it seems curiously uninterested in providing anything other than a rather one-sided view of this relationship.
A slow-burn that shows us connections between what's real
Magic realism in the purest, simplest sense.
An immensely charming movie.
Beautifully shot, relentlessly minimalist and deceptively simple drama that's by turns fascinating and quietly moving.
This slight and picturesque faux-documentary is like a family photo album brought to life.
Alamar, for all its laid-back charm, offers no real answers and its naivety is perplexing.
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Foreign Titles
- To the Sea (Alamar) (DE)
- To the Sea (Alamar) (UK)








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