For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
San
Francisco International Film Festival Breakdown - Alamar
The Impression:
A sweet, gauzy film shot on a micro-budget with a micro crew
about a son's final summer with his fisherman father on the
waters of the Mexican Caribbean.
The Reality:
Gorgeous film that does nothing if not instill the viewer
with a glowing aura of happiness. It's a simply told tale
of a boy, his father, his father's father and a life on the
crystal-clear waters of the Mexican Caribbean. The story is
nearly non-existence, and we as viewers literally spend
every moment with this trio as they laugh and love and eat
and fish. Alamar is a hazy dream, a sort of cloud of
a film that just barely floats on by.
And as much as I enjoyed the film, I found myself already
forgetting it as the credits ended. There's a deeper
meaning to much of the content of the film, but director
Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio never sees fit to dip in to it.
Truthfully, in a film this effortlessly enjoyable, perhaps
they're doesn't need to be a more serious aspect.
The Lesson:
I'm a cynic who needs their handheld in a cloud of joy.
People, lots of them, are going to love this film so much
more than me.
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and
the KEXP blog. He also has his own
Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.
If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his
writings here at Side One: Track One then please do
so
here.
- Noah Sanders
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