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Alice Movie Review

Alice is a 2005 Portuguese drama film directed by Marco Martins and starring Nuno Lopes. It’s a different take on a familiar premise that really works.

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“What if she isn’t in Lisbon anymore?“

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In the wake of his daughter’s disappearance, a father wallowing in grief feeds his desire to find her with unusual methods. He creates a video surveillance network on the places that she might have been in search of a clue. This kind of approach made the film a drama instead of a thriller, which was very refreshing to witness as usually it would be the opposite for this premise. Thus, the movie managed to transcend its basic premise with flying colors.

The heart and core of this film is Nuno Lopes as Mario. His performance here is simply fantastic as he is believable and great throughout. The character is the only one who is very well realized as all of the others aren’t all that good unfortunately and seem as detours even with some of the scenes containing the supporting players grinding the movie’s pace to a halt. That was my main issue with the movie overall.

But he is the reason why it works. The performance is great and the characterization is excellent. It was just so emotional following this desperate man’s quest to find out what happened to his daughter and that obsession made for a deeply uncomfortable, heartbreaking watch. Many scenes here are difficult to watch for sure.

Alice is well made with the direction from Marco Martins being particularly strong. The movie is directed confidently and deftly. The pacing isn’t the greatest, but the editing, cinematography and dialogue are all very strong. Admittedly, I saw the film in a very mediocre version in terms of quality, but I could still see that it was well shot.

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The highlights here in terms of scenes are the surveillance parts. Those were very intense and detailed in execution. But the best scene is the ending. It was just so different, so tragic and unexpected that it made for a very heartbreaking conclusion. The way the other kids are used for emotional levity was powerful and the imagery was deep.