Movies: Alpha (2024) by Jan-Willem van Ewijk - A Silent Clash on Icy Peaks

Short Summary: When Grief Meets the Mountain

Alpha is a stark and meditative survival drama that unfolds against the haunting silence of the Alps. Jan-Willem van Ewijk directs with minimalist precision, crafting a story that feels both mythic and intimate. At its core is a volatile relationship between father and son, staged on a mountain that is as beautiful as it is unforgiving. The result is a film that interrogates masculinity, grief, and survival with imagery that lingers long after the credits roll.

After the death of his wife, Rein retreats from the world to find solace as a snowboarding instructor deep in the Alps. His solitude is disrupted when his father Gijs, a performer and charismatic ego, arrives seeking reconnection. As tension builds through subtle power plays and unresolved pain, the two ascend a perilous mountain—nature’s unforgiving terrain forcing them to confront both their past and the limits of their own wills.

Link IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28797114/

Link Review: https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/466662/

About movie: baldrfilm.nl/film/alpha

Link to watch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/alpha-2025-0 (US)

Detailed Summary: Two Men, One Mountain, No Escape

• Shaken Yet Standoffish

  Rein is fragile, hiding in his Alpine life, but Gijs disrupts his rhythm immediately. At first, their interactions are polite, almost mechanical, but beneath the surface lies years of silence and emotional distance.

• A Rift in Routine

  Gijs begins to charm Rein’s friends and even flirts with his girlfriend Laura, leaving Rein simmering with frustration. This rivalry soon takes the form of subtle challenges, from conversations laced with pride to physical contests on the snow.

• Stranded and Stripped Bare

  As they ascend the slopes, the isolation grows heavier. When they become stranded on the mountain, their rivalry collapses into something more primal. Survival takes precedence, but survival also exposes the raw truths they had long avoided.

• A Silent Reconciliation

  No grand speeches are offered. The mountain leaves no space for melodrama. Instead, through shared silence, fleeting gestures, and the mutual need to endure, father and son inch toward understanding. The mountain doesn’t heal them—it simply refuses to let them avoid each other any longer.

Director’s Vision: Formalism as Emotional Vessel

• Visual Restraint with Emotional Force

  The film is shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, which visually boxes the characters in, emphasizing how trapped they are—by grief, by pride, by circumstance. Every frame feels deliberate, a portrait of confinement against endless landscapes.

• Nature as Silent Judge

  The Alps dominate the film. Their beauty is undeniable, but they are indifferent to human suffering. The towering peaks and stark skies act as a mirror to the men’s turmoil, making their personal conflict feel at once monumental and insignificant.

• Silence as Dialogue

  Van Ewijk uses negative space and silence as dramatic tools. What the characters do not say often carries more weight than their spoken words. Every pause, every quiet breath, becomes part of the narrative.

Themes: Masculinity, Grief, and Alpine Reckoning

• Fragile Masculinity Unraveled

  Rein and Gijs embody two different but equally fragile forms of masculinity—one stoic and repressed, the other flamboyant and domineering. Both are exposed as masks when tested by grief and hardship.

• Nature as Mirror, Not Savior

  The Alps do not offer redemption. They provide no comfort or resolution. Instead, they serve as an unyielding backdrop that magnifies the characters’ struggles, reminding us that nature is eternal and human conflict fleeting.

• Unspoken Bonds in Extremis

  The most profound connections come not through dialogue but through shared adversity. The silence between father and son ultimately speaks louder than any confrontation could.

Key Success Factors: Why Alpha Sticks

• Authenticity in Casting

  The decision to cast real-life father and son Reinout and Gijs Scholten van Aschat adds a raw, undeniable authenticity. Their lived familiarity bleeds into the performances, making every conflict and every glance feel charged with history.

• Cinematography and Sound as Character

  Douwe Hennink’s cinematography captures both the oppressive smallness of interiors and the vast emptiness of the Alps. Vincent Sinceretti’s sound design, paired with Ella van der Woude’s eerie score, deepens the sense of isolation and unease, amplifying the psychological weight of each scene.

• Minimalism with Impact

  The sparse dialogue and carefully controlled pacing make the film demanding, but they also make its moments of breakthrough profoundly moving.

Awards & Festival Reception

• Premiered in Venice 2024 as part of the Giornate degli Autori program, where it earned the Europa Cinemas Label award.

• Won Best Film in the Coop! Competition at the 2025 Ostend Film Festival, confirming its resonance with European critics and audiences.

• Screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2025, where it was praised for its uncompromising formalism and thematic depth.

Critics Reception: Contemplative, Cold, Compelling

• Many critics praised its visual discipline and the way it uses negative space to heighten emotional resonance. The formalist approach drew comparisons to European art cinema traditions, where atmosphere often outweighs plot.

• Reviewers noted the film’s ability to convey deep themes of grief, masculinity, and survival without resorting to over-explaining. Its silences were described as both haunting and revealing.

• Some pointed to the pacing as deliberately slow and demanding, acknowledging that its restraint may alienate viewers looking for more traditional drama. Still, most agreed that the film’s patience pays off with a lingering, haunting emotional impact.

Overall: Alpha is widely regarded as a bold, uncompromising work—difficult at times, but strikingly beautiful and emotionally resonant.

Reviews: Audience Echoes

• Festival audiences described being mesmerized by the Alpine imagery, calling the landscapes “as much a character as the father and son.”

• Some viewers admitted they struggled with the slow pacing, but nearly all noted that the final act’s emotional resonance stayed with them for days.

• Many praised the authenticity of the father-son performances, noting how their real bond added immeasurable weight to the story.

Why to Recommend Alpha: A Mountain of Human Truth

• For viewers who appreciate cinema as visual poetry rather than conventional storytelling, Alpha offers a profound experience.

• It is a film for those drawn to stories of survival, isolation, and the confrontation of grief.

• Its father-son casting and intimate performances make it both raw and relatable, even within its austere framework.

Movie Trend: Formalist Survival Drama in European Art Cinema

Alpha belongs to a wave of European art films that use extreme environments and stripped-down narratives to explore psychological and relational collapse. It resonates alongside works like Force Majeure and The Turin Horse, though with its own Alpine specificity and generational focus.

Social Trend: Reclaiming Vulnerability in Masculine Narratives

The film aligns with contemporary cultural conversations about masculinity. It portrays men not as unshakable figures but as fragile, grieving individuals, forced to reveal their vulnerability when stripped of comfort and distraction.

Final Verdict: When the Mountain Outlasts Us, We Learn Who We Are

Alpha is not designed to comfort—it is designed to confront. With its cold beauty, deliberate silences, and emotional authenticity, it offers a cinematic experience that is as demanding as it is rewarding. On the mountain, the men find no easy answers, but in their struggle we find a mirror for our own vulnerabilities. The peaks endure, the snow falls, and human pride melts away—leaving only what is essential.