Sunday, March 14, 2010

Alice (1988)

Alice (1988)
aka Neco z Alenky
Czechoslovakia

Director: Jan Svankmajer
Writers: Lewis Carroll (novel) and
Jan Svankmajer (writer)
Starring: Kristýna Kohoutová as Alice
Rating: 5

Description from imdb:
A memorably bizarre screen version of Lewis Carroll's novel 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', mixing one live actor (Alice) with a large variety of stop-motion animated creatures, ranging from the complex (the White Rabbit) to the incredibly simple (the Caterpillar, consisting of a sock, a couple of glass eyes and a pair of false teeth).

The original story is followed reasonably faithfully, though those familiar with this director's other films won't be the least bit surprised by the numerous digressions into Svankmajer territory, living slabs of meat and all. As the opening narration says, it's a film made for children... perhaps?

Amusing quote:
Alice: Alice thought to herself... Alice thought to herself 'Now you will see a film... made for children... perhaps... ' But, I nearly forgot... you must... close your eyes... otherwise... you won't see anything.

My two bits:
Great interplay of stop-animation and one live actor! The dialogue is Lewis Carroll (mostly, Please, sir. - directed at the white rabbit) and limited as the focus is on the stop-animation.

As the description above states there is a living slab of meat flopping about - LOL - and skeletons and skulls come to life that are not so nice. But then most characters in Alice in Wonderland are not nice... just odd.

Here is Alice as a doll after a DRINK ME session.

Very Alice and very creepy in a way. I can't help but think that there is a dark storyline behind the whimsicalness.

This is one I'd like to watch again.

~*~

* inspired to watch this from Alice-related post at Saving the World One Story at a Time

* part of Alice in Whatsitland (see schedule)
week

* wanna be a part of Alice's adventure in Whatsitland? join the challenge!

 
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