“A luminous, semi-documentary film that plays on the border of reality and fiction… (portraying) a tender, ritualistic passing of knowledge, experience and love from one generation to the next. Director Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio has constructed a film in which a journey has an overarching mythic resonance that evokes fables from ‘Robinson Crusoe’ to ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’”
– Stephen Holden, The New York Times

“A nearly hypnotic immersion in the brilliantly aqua, impossibly tranquil Caribbean –
a Paradise Regained not just for Natan but for everyone.”
– J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

“4 STARS. Destined to be appreciated by thoughtful kids. Relish in the adventure.”
– Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

“Lovely. Plumbs surprising depths of feeling from the simplest of tales. A film of moments, beautifully conceived and shot.”
– Bilge Ebiri, New York magazine

“An idyll, so seductively lulling, so enjoyable, that even while we know it must be somewhat idealized,
we don’t want too much realism to spoil it. Yet, oddly, the realistic elements in it increase its charm.
The setting is exquisite. The camera work is pluperfect…(the) underwater photography – magical.”
– Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic

"A gorgeous, elegiac story of a father-son boat trip." -- David Fear, Time Out New York

"A lovely, soulful feature." -- Jay Weissberg, Variety

A love story between father and son, man and nature, water and sky, Alamar is set in the turquoise waters of Banco Chinchorro in the Caribbean, home to thousands of species of fish and Mexico’s largest coral reef. Living somewhere on the cusp between fiction and documentary, the film tells the story of a young boy whose divorced parents (an Italian mother and Mexican father) make him a child of two worlds. The strikingly handsome Jorge, muscled, tattooed and mustachioed, transports the urban kid to this natural paradise to teach him to dive for lobster, and fish for barracuda, spending days on a tiny fishing boat and nights in a reed-roofed cabin that floats atop the water. Egrets and crocodiles are their neighbors in this aquatic Neverland.

MEXICO • 2009 • 73 MINS. IN SPANISH & ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES • FILM MOVEMENT