A young girl attempting to bless her beloved mother with an eternal life of happiness, away from her abusive father, embarks on a journey to achieve her goals.
Arthouse films can span many different subgenres, sometimes within the same film. In Cielo, we get several genres all mixed into one, and unfortunately wind up with a film with a serious identity crisis. While it attempts to be stunning and moving, both visually and emotionally, and it can sometimes achieve this goal, it’s so tonally awkward that it can feel jarring to watch. We shift from heavy subject matter, like scenes of brutalization, child abuse, and even murder, to light-hearted and humorous sequences of childlike wonder and fantasy. It can’t decide which side of things it wants to focus on in its story, either, with wildly misplaced setpieces and characters who don’t feel quite vibrant and weird enough to be fantastical, but aren’t relatable or believable enough to be realistic.
I can’t rip the film too hard, though, because visually, it’s a masterpiece. Alberto Sciamma’s vision is strong, and he executes it with precision, making for a truly gorgeous piece of moving artwork that highlights the beauty of indigenous Bolivia with passion and finesse. I only wish the story it tells were more deserving of such a spectacular show. Pulling duties as the sole writer, as well, Sciamma may have benefited from sharing the credit with someone else who could have added a bit more coherence to the plot. It’s messy and confusing on top of being tonally awkward, and it feels like it needed a few more drafts before hitting production in order to narrow the focus and decide upon a genre. There really shouldn’t be a crossover between extreme brutality and hope inspiring family drama, especially not in the presence of a child protagonist.
That said, it’s no fault of the adorable and fantastic lead, Gutiérrez Aranda. She’s spectacular and intensely focused, with her performance pulling the entire film together. She’s the glue that holds an otherwise messy film together, giving us an endearing and touching protagonist to pull for, even if her methods and motives are questionable. The rest of the cast is decent, as well, with a particular amount of praise going to Mariela Salaverry and Cristian Mercado. Everyone takes their assignments seriously here, without anyone being a standout for a bad performance, though nobody can hold a candle to Aranda, and she’s certainly someone I hope to see in more time going forward.
The composition by Dave Graham and Cergio Prudencio is especially wonderful, not only framing the narrative in an emotional way, but utilizing indigenous cultural sounds and music in a way that feels like both a tribute and an honor to the source material. Combined with the absolutely incredible cinematography by Alex Metcalfe, the film is truly incredible from a visual and audio perspective. Though the lacking story and odd tonal imbalance is undeserving of such a portrait of beauty if you ask me.
While it’s pretty to look at and listen to, and the performances are really grand, Cielo just doesn’t land as well as it could, coming off half baked and awkwardly caught between wanting to be serious, wanting to be fantastical, and wanting to be family friendly. It tries, but it just comes up too short to be a true masterpiece.
Fantasia 2025 runs from July 16th to August 3rd 2025