“The film is a near-perfect cinematic amalgamation, a rigidly formalistic work.”

“Through it all the mountain just sits, constantly changing yet always being itself. It remains still as the seasons flow into one another and as the weather changes moment by moment and day by day, calmness abiding through the change… Clouds may come, clouds may go. Night follows day, and day follows night. Bright warming sun followed by the cool night sky, studded with stars and the gradual dawning of a new day.”

This quote attributed to Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the pioneers of the practice of mindfulness in a Western context, concludes Alpha., the fourth feature film by Dutch director Jan-Willem van Ewijk. Indeed the mountain remains unmoved by the human drama that unfolds on its slopes in this struggle between a father and a son, and between the two of them and the mountain itself. Alpha.‘s strikingly bold use of negative space and aggressive color grading and filtering strongly underline an existential drama in a story about male toxicity and the different ways we all handle grief, as well as our futility in the eyes of nature. Featuring a true father-and-son pairing as the leads, the film is van Ewijk’s best to date, and while its formalist style may keep some at arm’s length, those who want a little more than narrative cinema may get a lot out of this. And otherwise one can always enjoy the majesty of the mountains.

Rein (Reinout Scholten van Aschat) works as a snowboarding instructor in Austria. When his father Gijs (Gijs Scholten van Aschat) visits it has been a while since the two last saw each other. Three months, to be precise, since the funeral of their respective mother and wife. Both are men of few words. A dinner to catch up goes well enough, although Rein is resentful when he finds out his dad is already talking to a new woman, but the next morning a playful romp in the bathroom already hints at the psychological battle for dominance that is to follow.

Rein introduces Gijs to three of his friends, including Laura (Pia Amofa), his maybe-or-maybe-not girlfriend. They plan to ski down a tall, looming mountain, and Gijs, not to be outdone by his much more experienced son, agrees to join them. Over lunch he flirts with Laura and bursts into tears when he remarks the resemblance of her hands to those of his late wife. Rein reminds Laura that his dad is an actor, and that he is just trying to ingratiate himself. On their way to the top of the mountain Gijs is confronted with his physical limits and his fear of heights, shifting the upper hand in the power struggle to Rein. As the others go ahead, the two men are suddenly on their own, and more than ever condemned to each other. Little do they know that on the way down their bond and love for each other will be put to the ultimate test.

To illustrate the rumble for dominance between the two, as well as their titanic battle against an unmoving mountain, van Ewijk uses all cinema can offer him both visually and sonically. Shooting in a 4:3 frame that seems barely sufficient to accommodate one ego, let alone two, his use of negative space to create a disconcerting feeling about the relationship we see unfolding, but also the puniness of humans when compared to the vast and majestic landscape it unfolds in, is impressive. Close-ups of a character with very little look space to signify the broiling conflict, tons of head space making the mountains seem ever looming, and an increasingly monochromous image as doom inches closer all contribute to Alpha. being an exceptionally stunning film to look at. To add to the praise, both the sound design and the initially deceptively happy but unnerving music heighten the intensity of the film. When Rein falls during a downhill run and gets buried under sliding snow, dissonant music and a muffled soundscape under an increasingly pitch-black image makes you feel the suffocation of the character all the more. Crunching snow and howling winds elicit the desire to put on a winter jacket, even in the heat of the Lido.

It’s not just the camera and sound that document the friction between Rein and Gijs, the body language of the actors matches it; when sitting in a ski lift together with Laura, Gijs in the middle, Rein distances himself as far away from his dad as the small gondola allows. Both actors are in excellent form anyway, their real father-son connection no doubt greatly informing their characters. The elder Scholten van Aschat, one of the most lauded and pre-eminent Dutch thespians, clearly relishes playing an actor who is full of himself, but the younger actor matches him as the surly son who was deeply hurt by the way his father has dealt with the death of his mother, a wound that has created a rift between them. A wound that can only be healed once they become dependent on each other in order to survive the harsh nature that seems to swallow them whole. It is only then, in the film’s final act, that the strength of the family bond supersedes their mutual resentment.

With Alpha., van Ewijk finally makes good on the promise of his early film Atlantic.. While not flawless (the final third feels stretched too thin), the film is a near-perfect cinematic amalgamation, a rigidly formalistic work that is likely too alienating to have a great theatrical run but should do well on the festival circuit, and further cement van Ewijk’s name as a director to keep an eye on.