What Alice Found

I just saw this on cable. I liked it. It held my interest and the dramatic choices were good. The old couple were very good and good at being subtly creepy. The cinematography is not so great, but the shabby video also adds to the sense of realism, so its a trade-off, you know? At times the girl would hit the New England accent to hard. The accent would sort of come and go. Anyway, I thought the film was well done overall, though. The storyline was strong and dramatic tension was held because you felt their was some subtle mystery going on, even though things seemed mundane. Good job on a low budget. Another good SUNY Purchase filmmaker. Way to go.

"What Alice Found" was a pleasant discovery. As written and directed by A. Dean Bell, this is combination of a road movie with a cautionary tale, as well as a voyage of discovery.

If you haven't seen the film, maybe you should stop reading here.

Alice is a case study of a young woman that wants to break away from the unhappy life she leads in a New England town. Her pretext for leaving is going to join her best friend, who is away studying at a Miami university. Alice is the product of a single mother's home, one that is struggling to make ends meet, in sharp contrast with the life of ease her friend seems to inhabit. In flashbacks we get to see Alice's life before going on the road.

Alice, like her namesake in "Alice in Wonderland", embarks in a trip to the unknown that life hasn't prepared her for. The highways of America are full of predators in search of the weak and innocent. Alice meets with disaster when her car breaks down the road and a friendly Southern couple come to her assistance when a strange man approaches in the darkness with the excuse he wants to help her. Sandra and Bill convince her to come along in their plush R.V. on her way down South.

Nothing has prepared Alice for what this couple turns out to be. After all, in her sheltered life, she hasn't dealt with what Sandra and Bill, her new benefactors do during the overnight stays at the rest stops in the American highways. It comes as a shock to her the realization that the kind Sandra is nothing but a prostitute that plies her trade among the truck driving populace one meets in those places.

Alice, brilliantly played by Emily Grace, is a study in how the young woman awakens to the new reality she can't escape. In fact, Sandra makes it seem so easy that Alice tries her luck at the oldest profession on earth in order to raise some badly needed money.

Judith Ivey gives a tremendous performance as Sandra. Ms. Ivey is perfect as the seemingly normal woman, one wouldn't suspect she is doing the nasty with clients she and Bill find along the route they travel. Ms. Ivey is amazing when she reveals the truth about her life to an accusing Alice. As the husband, Bill Raymond is good in his portrayal as the husband, that in reality is a procurer.

Under the excellent direction of Mr. Dean Bell, the film is not afraid to go to places mainstream films dare not to go. Congratulations to this director who has written a plausible story and has gathered the perfect cast to play it for our benefit.

My roommate and I watched this movie on TV last night just out of sheer boredom. Besides the fact that the New England accents were AWFUL the movie was good. I live ten minutes from Milford NH, born and raised there and still attend school in the New Englan area. So we were cringing every time a New Englander spoke. But we found ourselves drawn into the movie. It was surprisingly sweet for being so trashy at the same time. Definitely not for kids, but if you like good indie films, this would be something good to watch. Give yourself some time to really get into the plot. You almost find yourself with a case of Stockholm Syndrome for the couple that takes Alice in.

Going into "What Alice Found" started me off with two feelings. I expected absolutely nothing, but I was happy to be at Sundance (I only saw the film's poster until after I saw it). Now, I'm not a big fan of Indie-type music and it actually made my head spin for most of the film, but it perfectly shaped the film into a true indie, as well as a film about trashy trailer/RV life. So, it was redeemed on that level. The second point I immediately noted that became redeemed as well was the film quality. From just leaving box-office type movies, I had forgotten the other world of film. So seeing the first 20 minutes of "What Alice Found" looked like my dad's home videos. But the filming (especially towards the end) had a real sort of style to it that made the film seem more real, and that made you forget about how it was filmed, but just about what the story was about. I will not spoil the story in any way, but Judith Ivey's acting was superb from the second she walked on screen, and Emily Grace entered the film industry in a nice sort of way. There was nothing that hit me in this film as unbelievable, but from all of the recent films I have seen, "What Alice Found" was certainly the best film of trashy people, told in the best possible way. You feel like you are there with the actors, due to its 'real' feel, and seeing the plot unfold made this film really shine. I would like to say that it was a very nice film that blossoms in its small little way, but nothing could please me more than films like this one day reaching massive audiences. Creators of the film, your film really had a purpose, one that should be told, exposing Southern RV life in no way ever shown before, and I commend you for your efforts, so I wish you the best of luck in the future.

Until I did a Web search on "What Alice Found", I didn't realize that the name of the film is embedded in the title of one of Lewis Carroll's books. The book's complete title is "Through the Looking-Glass (And What Alice Found There)".

The Alice of the film comes from a background quite different from that of Lewis Carroll's Alice. Her fresh and assertive character, however, is similar. The movie Alice begins as a young woman in New Hampshire who steals money from her ass-patting boss and takes off for Miami, vaguely planning to study marine biology and play with dolphins. She encounters a middle-aged couple in a motor home (the husband's retired from the military) who rescue her from a strange man at a roadside stop and from her car's breakdown (perhaps caused by their mechanizations).

As it turns out, the couple is heavily involved in truck stop prostitution and see sweet, young Alice as a promising recruit. The wife (played by Judith Ivey in a performance worthy of some big award) buys Alice sexy clothing and shows her how to apply hot makeup. Initially, Alice passively accepts her ministrations and, with the couple's instructions, does several tricks. The encounter shown in the most detail is quite different from most cinematic sex but may be typical of what most often happens in real life. The man is shy and deferential and apologizes for "finishing" too fast.

What's wonderful about Alice (and different from her prototypes from Clarissa to Sister Carrie) is that she learns from her experiences and asserts herself. This is how things really are. Prostitution is everywhere. People are neither all good or all bad. Alice leaves the motor home with her well-earned money and a feeling of mutual respect.