Alice

Yep, here's comes another Portuguese Tsai Ming-Liang... Another guy that thinks it's pretty cool to make a whole movie out of two pages of dialogue; that believes that rainy days, blue-tinted cinematography, Satie-like piano and the constant droning of passing cars and passing trains are an original way of expressing the anguish of modern urban existence; that pointless boredom, however well filmed (as indeed it was) can ever be something different than pointless boredom. What is truly absent in this movie, besides poor little Alice, is a story, as ever that detail that is never allowed to get in the way of the Big Ideas, Big Characters and Big Images of our filmmakers (except João Canijo, that at least makes the effort of riping-off Shakespeare). All the artistry in the world cannot save such an empty, empty, object.

There is much to be said about this one. It's fantastic to be able to appreciate such a picture, to live the moment where this finally happened. I don't know much about M.Martins, i hadn't heard of him before this one (and practically no one had). i also don't know what he'll do next. But i put this one along with a very few number of "difficult to get better" first tries by any director (a list with titles such as "a bout de soufflé" or "citizen kane").

The city is the theme. Forget the story. It is there. Period. It serves the purpose of grasping a city hardly seen on screen before this. Period. that's all there is to say.

So this succeeds where "Ossos" and "O fantasma" had failed completely; in showing Lisbon out of clichés, of preconceived warmed up imagery's. Time goes on, cinema has to catch it. This is catching up with time.

This brings the city to zero ground. The screens (how many do we see during the film?) that belong to Lopes's character are the white canvas where actions draw themselves, in blue. The camera (an experimenting young director, says me) tries to fetch them, tries to make them eternal, all the scenes, everywhere. Lopes (the actor, real life and in this film) tries to get to them, he participates, he can even show up in front of a camera, but he can never control it. So, the actor as a pawn, constantly exposed, never in control. This is cinema, and Mário (Lopes) understands it the moment he sees 10 times his face on the screens of a store. He also performs a play, a comedy, inside the play which is the film. Double manipulation. Great material! He is an actor, manipulated to appear the way this visionary director wants, and he plays an actor, who is forced to perform something he is not the least interested in, to be able to proceed with his other function, which he thinks he controls, but he doesn't.

The camera can be "god", a character, or it can grab a character and follow it. The camera can be the spectator, our curiosity moving around. Here, the camera is a mood, a spiritual landscape, such as the music. It's a dot placed on the infinite. So it doesn't matter if it focuses or unfocuses, or what it focuses, first or second plan, cars pass in front, also people strange to the scenes (every people are strange here). "Freewill" framing, apparent chaos, apparent "no man" camera. This is the true quality of Alice. All so contemporary, all so apparently chaotic, still, everything controlled we don't know how, nor by whom. This is Lisbon.

Still, i don't hold the optimism (nor the skepticism) of the common Portuguese cinema buff. I don't watch this one as "the new path that will improve Portuguese cinema for good". One film, especially on this author basis, doesn't change a hole (inexistent) cinema industry. But i do think that, from a cinematic point of view; this is worthwhile, and has a place on the top of my shelve.

Dialogs subtle, right, rigorous. Music may be the only apparition of the missing Alice. Photos, flyers and even Alice herself don't count. This is one of the best minimalist soundtracks ever. Glass would make Koyaanisqatsi differently if he could have seen this first. But than again, this is so much better than Reggio's living-death tail of industrialization.

The city is blue, so is Alice's coat, he's always seeking blue... and failing to find it. Think about. You should watch this along with "Lisboetas". This one first.

My evaluation: 5/5 fantastic cinematic essay.

P.S. - I just feel pity that watching the making of and the extras makes me feel that this was all luck, and no one involved gave a single thought to what i just said. I wish the extra material could be more useful than just curious (it could be both).

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One of the best Portuguese movies ever produced. A simple, straight story about Mario, a father searching for his missing daughter - Alice. Shooted in a dark, depressing way with strong and moving roles. Mario creates an illegal video surveillance network all over Lisbon, watching hours and hours of DV tapes every day in high speed, expecting to see some clue about Alice. One day the search seems to be over. If you like to watch different cinema with alternative views and ideas you can't loose this one! Won a prize at 2005 Cannes Festival. The music by Sasseti is also intense, somehow like some tunes by Tiersen in "Lenin" or "Amelie".

Everything in this movie is really well done.From the breathtaking performances from the leading actors, the amazing photography, the fantastic soundtrack(which is repetitive,but it relates to the sense of routine the main character has come to terms with) to the way that Lisbon is shot, it is a must-see for anyone who enjoys great dramatic movies.It is great to see a Portuguese movie that IS NOT a Manoel de Oliveira wannabe.It is also kind of minimalistic and slow, but it has it's own way of telling a story.This movie came as a surprise to me because I have never seen a Portuguese movie so well done.It is the supreme evidence that less is more.I can't wait to see Marco Martins' next project.

"Alice" is a sad and deep movie about a missing child. Mário (Nuno Lopes) is a father of a little girl that is missing and since then his life is a complete routine… Each day he does every little step he had done the day she disappeared. He walks in the same streets at the same time, he catches the same train and sees the same persons, and he goes to the same places (including her school). He's in deep despair, and as he can't do anything else, he does that routine hoping she will pass again in one of these places one day… Beside that he mounted a "vigilance structure" with a large number of video-cameras installed in some friends' houses which record some of those streets (he also have friends at the airport and metro security who lend him some vigilance tapes). He's really convicted that someday she will appear in one of these cameras…

It's a very sad and touching movie, because it's about a matter that is always hard to "talk about". The plot is very simple in its structure, because it's very straight and easy to follow, but at the same time it also gives us a feeling of complexity, of something that it's not explained: We don't know, for example, who are these characters or how did Alice disappear.

The movie is a bit slow and melancholic, but it's just the way it should be to a story like that. The music, which is a very beautiful piano piece, helps a lot to this ambiance of melancholy and deep sadness; but also the footage, because all film is shot in a grey light, as if an enormous cloud had arrived over Lisbon…Very nice too, and totally connected to the ambiance of the story.

The character of Nuno Lopes (Mário) is also very well portrayed, because it has the typical figure of a person which is lost in life: Sadness in his eyes, unshaved face, defeated posture, always a serious expression… Excellent job done by Nuno Lopes and the production of this movie!