socrates99 An unusual film about a healer and what it cost her to be one, set in Canada's far north. The three adult principals are flawless. The two child actors are flawless too. If nothing else it's worth seeing these performances which should impress even the most hard-hearted of critics.The story itself is rather slight. A woman is recognized as having the gift by another healer but her own family problems might not withstand her acceptance of her gift. Aside from that it's about relationships between a mother and her two sons, and perhaps also about a loving mother trying to live mostly through her emotions.The real value of the film is how it seems to represent a breakthrough for all of the actors involved. Cillian Murphy, Jennifer Connelly, and Melanie Laurent are all unforgettably good. The two McGrath brothers are irreplaceable.

Gordon-11 This film tells the story of a journalist, who sets up a meeting between a young man and his mother who tragically abandoned him twenty years ago in a cold, icy land.I don't quit know what "Aloft" is about, because of a poor story and a poorly presented story. The non-linear storyline does not help to clear things up, and in fact it confuses and meddles up everything. Central plot ideas are poorly conveyed, for example the first scene seems completely unrelated and even irrelevant to the rest of the film. Motives and actions of characters are poorly explained that most of the time I don't know what they are doing. As a result I don't even know what exactly drove the mother to abandon her son. I understand there was a tragedy, but what exactly happened that linked the tragedy to the abandonment, which was poorly presented that it happened already before I realised that the scene was about abandonment.I watched it for Jennifer Connelly, but unfortunately "Aloft" is not a high point for Jennifer Connelly's portfolio of work.

Seth_Rogue_One The acting is fine, Jennifer Connelly is always good as is Cillian Murphy and the kid-actors were fine as well.Visually it's also a nice looking movie, with limited colours that creates and cold and melancholic feeling which suits the movie just fine, because it is rather melancholic.The movie though is just good enough not to be bad, but far from great.Needless to say Jennifer Connelly's character is very spiritual and believes in healing, I believe her character is supposed to be Native American although I am not quite sure about this but a lot of her spiritual beliefs stem from them if nothing else.So it helps if you have some sort of interest in that or at least an open mind because it's not always very up front and direct in it's approach to tell the story with plenty of metaphors and subtlety more so than direct big orchestrated dramatic scenes.The blu-ray version (at least the one I watched could possibly differ in some countries) is 97 minutes, and not 112 minutes like it says on IMDb.From what I've heard the version shown on festivals was indeed 112 minutes but it wasn't received that well so they cut it down to 97 minutes for the blu-ray/DVD market.And although that caught me off guard initially, I'm not quite sure if it would be able to sustain my interest for 112 minutes so this could be one of those times where the cut down version is actually better, although I of course can't be sure about this.

meganbeneski I was anxiously awaiting the release of Aloft in the US because I really enjoy the work of the two lead actors, Jennifer Connelly and Cillian Murphy. The film was in competition at the Berlin Film Festival last year so, there were plenty of reviews out there for me to read beforehand. I finally had a chance to watch it and in my opinion the critics missed the point of this film. They were in search of obvious plot points and cleanly presented character arcs. But, there is none of that. It is a melancholy film to be sure. The characters are existing in an environment lacking love, levity, hope and basic comfort (beautifully realized by the bleak environment of the frozen wilds of Canada.) Jennifer Connelly's character, Nana, is a single mother raising two boys; Gully who is terminally ill and Ivan who is woefully unloved and overlooked. Nana is not a sympathetic character in the least. She sees her circumstances as permission to inflict whatever poor choices she wishes on those around her and her choices run the gamete of self-indulgent to self- destructive. When she chooses to leave Ivan her rationalizations are flimsy and cruel and really only a justification for her to "get out" and put herself first. Cillian Murphy is subtly enthralling as a grown up Ivan. Raised in an environment of very little joy Ivan progresses from an unhappy, sullen boy into a short-tempered, hermit of a man that seethes with anger and distrust. There are moments throughout the film that show Ivan's vulnerability and capacity for sweetness. Like when he is training his beloved falcon or playing with his own son. But, he is damaged and guarded. The result of being unloved and discarded. The story is told in two separate timelines approximately 20 years apart and flashbacks help fill in the story of the boys before they are separated from their mother. Details are few and the circumstances of what caused the rift between Nana and Ivan are not fully realized until the end. I do feel like the depiction of the characters, flawed as they are, was realistic. Their choices were selfish, rooted in anger and hurt. But, it is a picture of the pain of physical and emotional abandonment and ultimately survivor's guilt. It shows that the choices that we make profoundly affect those around us and those ripples can be felt for a lifetime. There are no happy endings or neatly defined explanations for why people do what they do to the people that they love, this film depicts that ambiguity in a lovely way.