Premiering back at Berlin Film Festival over a year ago, Claudia Llosa‘s latest drama will finally be getting a U.S. release next month. In Aloft, Jennifer Connelly plays Nana Kunning, a young mother who attempts to heal her son Ivan (Zen McGrath), when something goes terribly wrong in the film’s opening: the boy’s falcon destroys a fragile structure made of tree branches used in the healing. Cut to 20 years later, we follows the adventures of a grown-up Ivan (Cillian Murphy) and a journalist (Mélanie Laurent), who is trying to interview Nana.
We said in our review, “A tough nut to crack, Aloft is a poetic drama exploring a rather abstract issue: that line between faith and the openly observable. Written and directed by Claudia Llosa (The Milk of Sorrow and Madeinusa), the themes that she’s worked with well in her native Peru just don’t seem to translate to North America. Perhaps it is because the ambition of the film aims to circumvent character development in place of rhythm and poetry. The issue at hand is that Aloft, perhaps as a compromise, attempts to have it both ways.” Check out the trailer, which perhaps should formally credit Terrence Malick, below.
As a boy, Ivan’s mother, Nana, desperately seeks treatment to cure her youngest son, Gully, who has a terminal illness. Ivan, often scolded for not supporting his brother, retreats to falconry. When Nana follows a healing guru, the Architect, and Ivan’s falcon destroys his restorative tent of twigs, Nana discovers that she also has the healing touch. Encouraged by the Architect, she starts treating other people’s children, ultimately leading to a devastating consequence. Flashing forward, Ivan has his own family and continues to raise falcons. When a French documentary filmmaker comes to him with information about his mother’s now ample following, Ivan decides to accompany the woman on a trek to the Arctic Circle to reunite with his mother.
Aloft opens on May 22nd.