Mysteries bloom, shrivel, then wither away in the indifferent Arctic frost of the dying-child drama “Aloft.”
Tracking a journey by a documentarian (Mรฉlanie Laurent) and her subject (Cillian Murphy) toward the North Pole, the film holds itself at an icy remove from its audience, rendering its characters as impenetrable as if they were encased in ice. Like cheeks on a freezing day, any curiosity or interest the sparse script engenders is puckered dry by the end, leaving behind only an irritating numbness.
Journalist Jannia (Laurent) and accomplished falconer Ivan (Murphy) brave punishing winds and frozen but crackling lakes to visit his mother, Nana (Jennifer Connelly), a faith healer who treats the few who can make the pilgrimage to her homebase in the tundra.