Alamar (To the Sea) Reviews
June 7, 2019
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
July 1, 2013
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.
February 28, 2011
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
February 26, 2011
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
February 25, 2011
Alamar is a slow, beautiful meditation on nature, family and the relationship between father and son.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
February 25, 2011
It's hard to tell whether this line has been scripted or captured, but it packs an emotional punch all the same.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
February 25, 2011
Original Score: 4/5
February 25, 2011
So little is said on any subject that we're free to make our own conclusions about the world Natan inhabits.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
January 12, 2011
An extraordinary portrait of a positive and meaningful father-son relationship that touches the heart.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
January 10, 2011
A beautifully shot and carefully nuanced look at the forging of a bond between a father and a son.
January 7, 2011
The opposite of stimulating storytelling: It's a pseudo-vacation.
December 2, 2010
"Alamar" takes a lyrical approach to a story about father-son bonding in the tropics. It's as sketchy as it is beautiful.
Original Score: 3/4
November 12, 2010
Mexico's Alamar arrives like a breath of fresh air reminding us of cinema's potential for simple and elegant beauty.
November 11, 2010
Magical portrait of one five-year-old's summer with his fisherman father
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
November 10, 2010
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
November 4, 2010
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.
Original Score: 3.5/4
October 14, 2010
It is to Gonzlez-Rubio's credit that he can celebrate nature so joyously, yet suggest neither the preferred lifestyle of either parent is superior to the other.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
October 14, 2010
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.
September 27, 2010
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
September 20, 2010
A slow-burn that shows us connections between what's real
Full Review
| Original Score: A-