Oh hi there...
Lots of attention given to Jan Svankmajer's Alice is given to its visuals. As a stop-motion retelling of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, they should be. Here's a plot summary for the uninitiated: Alice encounters a White Rabbit and chases him. A bunch of shit happens, and the shit that happens is fucking crazy. This movie's dark, haunting, maybe not disturbing, but definitely strange and uncomfortable. When I first saw it, it was the first for a college film class, in an auditorium with booming loud speakers. At the time, I thought that was just the auditorium. Now, after rewatching it via Netflix on my computer, it definitely does not seem that way. This movie is loud, and that does so much for the movie's ability to get under your skin, it almost outdoes the visual aspects. Almost.
Remember how cute Disney's Alice in Wonderland is? And how distorted but still kinda cute (or at least "wow look at the bright colors!") Tim Burton's looks (from the trailers)? Svankmajer's version includes stop-motion, which is an inherently creepy form of animation. Objects are more dimensional than traditional animation, but are given an unnatural jerkiness that can be used to great effect, as it is here. It helps that there's so much death in this retelling. Not that characters die, but in their design. The white rabbit is a stuffed rabbit that comes to life; his friends are all made of bird and fish bones and doll parts. It's a combined creepy effect, with everything being somewhat jerky, yet remarkably smooth, like everything is played at only a couple frames per minute slower.
So, you get Alice in Wonderland, but told with dead animals. If that doesn't seal the creepiness, the narration will. All dialogue is delivered by Alice, with a closeup of her mouth ending each phrase (sample: "'I'm going to be late!' SAID THE WHITE RABBIT"). At first, the effect is intriguing. Then annoying. Then strangely unsettling. The version I've seen is dubbed in English, this intensifies this effect greatly. The lips in closeup clearly don't match what's being said, and it become surreal because you're forced to read her lips. This causes a mental dissonance, at least for me. It's the exact reason I can't stand dubbing. (and I've heard people insist that the only way to watch bad martial arts movies is dubbed. Can't do it. Sorry.) It magnifies how strange the film's world is.
This extends to the sound effects, too. The majority of the film takes place with clearly puppets, either among Alice or occasionally when she becomes a doll. Every crash and clang is mixed far louder than would be natural for the dolls. There's a dissonance with comes with these little objects causing such a racket. For example, there's the scene with the Mad Hatter and March Hare, which is driven by repetition of the Hatter ("'I want a clean cup!' SAID THE HATTER"), the sounds of the hare's cart, chairs scraping against the floor, butter slathering over clocks. In its extended repetition, the scene grates partially because of its sound.
In the end,talking about the sound of the thing is mostly just me trying to find a unique perspective on this movie, though. The striking animation of it - alive, yet unnatural, much like the White Rabbit who bleeds and eats sawdust constantly - is the real star here.
Still, I don't want to give too little credit to Kristyna Kohoutova, who plays Alice. She plays the role with the perfect mix of curiosity and bratty determination. The latter trait is probably magnified by her refusal to be intimidated by anything she sees throughout her journey, but it makes her reactions fascinating. She deadpans her way through being turned into a doll, being trapped inside a doll, being attacked by a bunch of dead animals, having her socks come alive, being nearly submerged in her tears, among other strangeness. In some ways, this is a dark comedy, and she is its straight man.
SAID THE FILM BLOGGER
Lots of attention given to Jan Svankmajer's Alice is given to its visuals. As a stop-motion retelling of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, they should be. Here's a plot summary for the uninitiated: Alice encounters a White Rabbit and chases him. A bunch of shit happens, and the shit that happens is fucking crazy. This movie's dark, haunting, maybe not disturbing, but definitely strange and uncomfortable. When I first saw it, it was the first for a college film class, in an auditorium with booming loud speakers. At the time, I thought that was just the auditorium. Now, after rewatching it via Netflix on my computer, it definitely does not seem that way. This movie is loud, and that does so much for the movie's ability to get under your skin, it almost outdoes the visual aspects. Almost.
Remember how cute Disney's Alice in Wonderland is? And how distorted but still kinda cute (or at least "wow look at the bright colors!") Tim Burton's looks (from the trailers)? Svankmajer's version includes stop-motion, which is an inherently creepy form of animation. Objects are more dimensional than traditional animation, but are given an unnatural jerkiness that can be used to great effect, as it is here. It helps that there's so much death in this retelling. Not that characters die, but in their design. The white rabbit is a stuffed rabbit that comes to life; his friends are all made of bird and fish bones and doll parts. It's a combined creepy effect, with everything being somewhat jerky, yet remarkably smooth, like everything is played at only a couple frames per minute slower.
So, you get Alice in Wonderland, but told with dead animals. If that doesn't seal the creepiness, the narration will. All dialogue is delivered by Alice, with a closeup of her mouth ending each phrase (sample: "'I'm going to be late!' SAID THE WHITE RABBIT"). At first, the effect is intriguing. Then annoying. Then strangely unsettling. The version I've seen is dubbed in English, this intensifies this effect greatly. The lips in closeup clearly don't match what's being said, and it become surreal because you're forced to read her lips. This causes a mental dissonance, at least for me. It's the exact reason I can't stand dubbing. (and I've heard people insist that the only way to watch bad martial arts movies is dubbed. Can't do it. Sorry.) It magnifies how strange the film's world is.
This extends to the sound effects, too. The majority of the film takes place with clearly puppets, either among Alice or occasionally when she becomes a doll. Every crash and clang is mixed far louder than would be natural for the dolls. There's a dissonance with comes with these little objects causing such a racket. For example, there's the scene with the Mad Hatter and March Hare, which is driven by repetition of the Hatter ("'I want a clean cup!' SAID THE HATTER"), the sounds of the hare's cart, chairs scraping against the floor, butter slathering over clocks. In its extended repetition, the scene grates partially because of its sound.
In the end,talking about the sound of the thing is mostly just me trying to find a unique perspective on this movie, though. The striking animation of it - alive, yet unnatural, much like the White Rabbit who bleeds and eats sawdust constantly - is the real star here.
Still, I don't want to give too little credit to Kristyna Kohoutova, who plays Alice. She plays the role with the perfect mix of curiosity and bratty determination. The latter trait is probably magnified by her refusal to be intimidated by anything she sees throughout her journey, but it makes her reactions fascinating. She deadpans her way through being turned into a doll, being trapped inside a doll, being attacked by a bunch of dead animals, having her socks come alive, being nearly submerged in her tears, among other strangeness. In some ways, this is a dark comedy, and she is its straight man.
Overall, Alice is an interesting trip down some surrealist stop-motion animation. It's more a showcase of technique than a narrative film, given that there isn't a real plot to it. It's unforgettable, though, for its design and style, which deftly walks the line between horror and nonsense. There isn't much wonder here, just unending madness falling into itself.
SAID THE FILM BLOGGER
No comments:
Post a Comment