I’m kicking off 2023 by trying to watch and review one movie every day for the first 90 days, all of which will be 90 minutes or less.
Title: Alice
Release Date: 3 August 1988
Director: Jan Švankmajer
Production Company: Film Four International | Condor Films
Summary/Review:
As a fan of Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, I’ve never been quite satisfied with film adaptations. This Czech film adheres to the spirit of the original’s surreal, dreamlike quality through a child’s point of view. It is after all, a film made for children. Perhaps.
The only actor to appear in the movie is the exceptionally young-looking Kristýna Kohoutová (I haven’t been able to confirm her age at the time of filming) as Alice. In the English-language version I watched, all of the dialogue is narrated by Camilla Power. Everything else in this film is created by animating taxidermy animals, dolls, and household objects. The herky-jerky nature of the stop-motion lends an uncanny valley quality to the animation.
The whole production teeters on the line between whimsical charm and nightmare fodder. I’m sure this movie would’ve terrified me as a young child. But it fascinates me now both as an adaptation of a great book and as it’s own weird and wonderful thing.
Rating: ****1/2
es