{"id":17814,"date":"2018-04-27T02:34:11","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T06:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=17814"},"modified":"2018-04-28T00:23:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-28T04:23:16","slug":"br-alice-1990","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=17814","title":{"rendered":"BR: Alice (1990)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Film<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0December 19, 2017<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Comedy \/ Fantasy \/ Drama<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0A Chinese herbalist helps a wealthy but emotionally numb married woman cope with ennui and the sudden attraction to another man.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 Isolated Mono Music Track \/ Theatrical Trailer \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a> and www.twilighttimemovies.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alice<\/strong> is clearer example of Woody Allen revisiting his familiar template of an unhappily married woman going through a series of personal adventures before she decides it\u2019s time to change her life and begin a second and more enlightened phase that may not even require a husband or boyfriend.<\/p>\n

Mia Farrow is the titular wife & mother who knows slick & sleazy husband Doug (William Hurt) is having an affair with someone, but it takes a chance meeting with single dad & jazz saxophonist Joe (Joe Mantegna) to spark a fantasy of having her own illicit affair. The attraction between the two is evident one fateful afternoon while picking up their respective kids from an elite school, but her leap of faith in extra-marital romance happens only after she consults with a very senior Chinese herbalist (Keye Luke), who prescribes small packets of green and white power which enable her to approach Joe with bold confidence.<\/p>\n

Alice\u2019s first go transforms her into a provocative would-be lover, launching a seductive exchange and name dropping that impresses Joe with her sudden deep knowledge of jazz greats; a second attempt renders her invisible with near embarrassing results; and a third concoction backfires by making not Joe falling head over heels with her, but every other man at a pretentious party.<\/p>\n

What pushes Alice to act on that heart-pounding leap is the recurring spiritual appearance of first true love Ed (Alec Baldwin), who emboldens her into making serious choices, and forcing her to let go \u2013 not only of Ed, but of a very upscale world that\u2019s insulated her from vital life challenges and allowed Doug to get away with stifling her deep desire to embark on a writing career.<\/p>\n

There are multiple ways to assess Alice<\/strong>: a familiar tale of an emotionally numb woman reawakening and embarking on new adventures; a genuinely compelling snapshot of a person who\u2019s given up on challenges because she\u2019s accepted the dismissals, unkind kidding, and bad advice from her supposed life partner and close friends; and more interestingly, Allen setting his drama not as a salute to 1930s and 1940s screwball comedies and melodramas, but a glossy 1950s tale.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s familiar use of jazz tunes are present (up until 1990, he hadn\u2019t hired a composer to pen an original score since 1972’s\u00a0Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex<\/strong>), but like the romantic weepy An Affair to Remember<\/strong> (1957), the music is more orchestral; instead of tunes lifted from scratchy 78\u2019s, Allen opts for pristine, lush orchestral jazz and lounge exotica that\u2019s very much indicative of late 1950s melodramas.<\/p>\n

Carlo Di Palma\u2019s extraordinary colour cinematography is as soft and cozy as a down pillow, making it logical to support scenes like Alice and Ed\u2019s meetings at the school with Jackie Gleason\u2019s string-heavy instrumental tunes. Allen also breaks from his usual period fixations by selecting music performed by Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Neal Hefti \u2013 artists rooted in Bebop \u2013 but he still weaves in some Duke Ellington and Erroll Garner, albeit more mid-career recordings.<\/p>\n

If the conflicts seem trite and Alice\u2019s privileged lifestyle and Big Worries rather precious (if not grating), Allen still makes his tale fairly fresh by including fantasy elements typical of 1940s romantic comedies. Alice\u2019s dilemma of becoming visible at the worst time are mined for optimum awkwardness, and Ed\u2019s ghostly visibility has the two flying over NYC like Lois Lane and Superman, as in the 1978 classic film. (During that extended sequence, we expect Alice to mumble her own iteration of \u201cCan You Read My Mind\u201d as the former lovers bank and glide over the metropolis.)<\/p>\n

Where the film feels a little bit dated are the scenes between Alice her aging herbalist, with Luke playing Dr. Yang like a wise old Asian from a 1950s comedy; it\u2019s not offensive per se \u2013 Luke\u2019s too good of an actor, and in his final film, radiates such warm charisma that Yang doesn\u2019t bristle, but it\u2019s the one characterization that should\u2019ve been updated, especially Yang\u2019s cliched broken English.<\/p>\n

Of Allen\u2019s 1980s & 1990s films, Alice<\/strong> is packed with an unusually luxurious roster of fine actors, most of whom have just a handful of scenes, if not just a single moment. Julie Kavner is a decorator, Cybill Shepherd a cold TV producer and Alice\u2019s supposed good friend, and Blyth Danner is Dorothy, Alice\u2019s sister who doesn\u2019t hold back on telling her the worst mistake she ever made was marrying rich snot Doug.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s some Bergmanesque flashbacks to the sisters\u2019 past \u2013 Patrick O\u2019Neal is glimpsed in a super-short birthday celebration and vanishes thereafter \u2013 and Gwen Verdon has a short dialogue scene with Alice. Holland Taylor pops up in a hair salon, and director James Toback plays a mouthy bullying screenwriting professor.<\/p>\n

At 106 mins., Alice<\/strong> also signals Allen\u2019s increasing move to longer dramas, and the extra 15-20 mins. over his prior 85-90 min. standard affects the film\u2019s pacing; it\u2019s still relatively brisk, but the extra length deepens the sense that Alice is a reformulation of prior Allen archetypes and a template that would become more oft-used.<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray sports a gorgeous transfer, flattering Di Palma\u2019s masterful lighting, colour design, and elegant cinematography, and there\u2019s an isolated mono music & effects track featuring the source jazz cues.<\/p>\n

Julie Kirgo\u2019s essay highlights the deft touches in direction, casting, and art direction, especially the way Alice is \u2018rolling\u2019 in an absurd life with multiple servants and impeccable attire that glows gently under Di Palma\u2019s lighting; as noxious as her world may seem to the average middle class, there\u2019s a strange coziness to the colour palette that maintains a soft and gentle balance among the d\u00e9cor, design, and costumes, which is no easy achievement.<\/p>\n

Woody Allen films released by Twilight Time include\u00a0Love and Death<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(1975),Interiors<\/a> <\/strong>(1978),\u00a0Stardust Memories<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(1980),\u00a0Zelig<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(1983),\u00a0Broadway Danny Rose<\/a><\/strong>(1983),\u00a0The Purple Rose of Cairo<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(1985), September<\/a><\/strong> (1987), \u00a0Radio Days<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(1987),\u00a0Another Woman<\/a> <\/strong>(1988),\u00a0and\u00a0Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(1989), Alice<\/strong> (1990), Manhattan Murder Mystery<\/a><\/strong> (1993), and the Allen starring in the Red Menace satire\u00a0The Front <\/a><\/strong>(1976).<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2018 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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