Alamar (To the Sea)

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Alamar (To the Sea) Photos

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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 strives to remain a presence in his son's life, and the boy visits his father at least once a year. As the five-year-old Natan travels to Mexico, his father has joined the family' fishing operation near the coral reefs of Banco Chinchorro. Living in an elevated cottage near the shore, Natan and his family devote their summer to an idyllic existence, spending their days catching the plentiful fish and observing the wildlife, and their nights sitting by the fire and admiring the stars. To the father, this simple life teaches an important lesson of existing in peace with the natural world, and Natan comes to see himself as being as much a part of this environment as the fish, the waterfowl and the seaweed. Alamar (aka To The Sea) was the first solo directorial credit for cinematographer Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio.

Rating:

G
Genre:

Art House & International, Drama
Directed By:

Pedro González-Rubio
Written By:

Pedro González-Rubio
In Theaters:

Jul 14, 2010 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Jan 11, 2011
Box Office:

$61,613
Runtime:

73 minutes
Studio:

Film Movement

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Cast

Jorge Machado
as Jorge

Roberta Palombini
as Roberta

Natan Machado Palombini
as Natan

Nestór Marín
as Nestor

Garza Silvestre
as Blanquita

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Critic Reviews for Alamar (To the Sea)

All Critics (47) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (4)

So little is said on any subject that we're free to make our own conclusions about the world Natan inhabits.

Feb 25, 2011 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Linda Barnard
Toronto Star
Top Critic
"Alamar" takes a lyrical approach to a story about father-son bonding in the tropics. It's as sketchy as it is beautiful.

Dec 2, 2010 | Rating: 3/4

John Hartl
Seattle Times
Top Critic
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.

Oct 14, 2010 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic
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.

Oct 14, 2010 | Full Review…

J. Hoberman
L.A. Weekly
Top Critic
Alamar, for all its laid-back charm, offers no real answers and its naivety is perplexing.

Sep 9, 2010 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
Top Critic
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.

Sep 8, 2010 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

David Jenkins
Time Out
Top Critic
A small wonder of a film, a beautiful and bittersweet ode to the love shared by a father and son that resonates in powerful and unexpected ways.

Jun 6, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Matthew Lucas
From the Front Row
At its best, Alamar affirms that the "patient, meditative" film or the stylistic exercise is far less of a cinema pestilence than emotionally cynical works like Life During Wartime.

Jul 1, 2013 | Full Review…

Nicolas Rapold
Film Comment Magazine
Alamar is a slow, beautiful meditation on nature, family and the relationship between father and son.

Feb 25, 2011 | Rating: 3.5/5

Liz Braun
Jam! Movies
It's hard to tell whether this line has been scripted or captured, but it packs an emotional punch all the same.

Feb 25, 2011 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Adam Nayman
eye WEEKLY
An extraordinary portrait of a positive and meaningful father-son relationship that touches the heart.

Jan 12, 2011 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice
A beautifully shot and carefully nuanced look at the forging of a bond between a father and a son.

Jan 10, 2011 | Full Review…

Ian Buckwalter
DCist

View All Critic Reviews (47)

Audience Reviews for Alamar (To the Sea)

Feb 24, 2011

Sweet film that makes you wonder how much of this is a documentary and how much of it was scripted. Something to while away a Sunday afternoon with. Nice length however. I think any more sweetness, I would begin to find it grating.

John B Super Reviewer
Jul 28, 2010

"Alamar" is a sweet, gentle and beautifully filmed movie. Once upon a time, Jorge(Jorge Machado) and Roberta(Roberta Palombini) fell passionately in love and had a child but then reality set in. It soon became clear they had distinct needs in life, being from very different places, and separated.(Cue the opening credits from "Green Acres.") At the start of the movie, Roberta, who lives in the urban paradise of Rome, is sending their son Natan(Natan Machado Palombini) to spend time with his father and other relatives at the aquatic paradise of Banco Chinchorro in Mexico. It is there in a sort of men's club(the only sign of women are the pin-ups adorning the huts) that Natan is shown how to explore underwater and fish by his father and grandfather(Nestor Marin) which his family has been doing for generations. This resonated with me, reminding me of fishing as a boy in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, although we never caught fish anywhere near that large. In fact, the fish are so large and plentiful in the movie that even the crocodile does well for himself, just sitting around.

Walter M Super Reviewer
Jul 17, 2010

Small, deeply observant gem about a father spending time with his young son who lives half a world away. Makes great use of its neo-realist roots to create a lovely portrait of father/son bonding.

Matthew L Super Reviewer