Cinematography in Alamar

Alamar is the story of a young man of Mayan decent and his half italian son who embark on an epic journey into the open sea before he goes to live with his mother. The film uses very little dialogue and relies heavily on visual storytelling to represent different themes throughout it. The film was written, shot and edited by Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio.

Many shots are set up like this, which not only show the wide beautiful landscape surrounding them, but also the unity of the father/son dynamic. The framing of this shot quite purposefully borders them together during a moment of the film where Jorge teaches Natan how to scale fish.

There are multiple underwater scenes which depict Jorge showing Natan how to do things such as hunt fish and navigate the coral reefs. There are a lot of interesting angles throughout the film that give the viewer Jorge's POV in relation to Natan. Here is an example of when he teaches Natan how to swim and spot fish in the water.

And another of when Natan watches his father.

This is a prime example of how framing and the angle of the shot do more than make the film look nice. They help underline themes and promote ideas in a more skillful way than using dialogue. The film is available on Netflix.