| 
| 
“Alice’s House” is not a happy place. The three teenage sons have issues that aren’t being addressed, grandma is losing her sight and the father is an unloving philanderer. At the center of it all is Alice (Carla Ribas), a nail stylist with a good heart whose life has fallen apart.
Ribas won the best actress award for this performance at the 2007 Miami International Film Festival, and it’s easy to see why. Alice’s moments of tears, rage, joy and tension all feel palpably real, as do the smaller moments, such as the slight smile on her face while riding the bus when her hand accidentally rubs the crotch of an attractive man.
We’ve seen many versions of the disillusioned American family (“American Beauty”), but rarely do we see such an introspective glimpse of a dysfunctional family in a foreign setting. “Alice’s House,” which is set in Brazil, is proof that the ideals of the so-called “American Dream” are, at their core, human desires that want to be felt everywhere.
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
