Alice
In Krystin Ver Linden ’s feature plastic film debut , the writer - director play a floor that ’s trying to do right smart too much with limited time . Alice , about an enslaved woman who discovers there ’s an completely different world beyond the plantation ’s molding , offer a substantial key functioning by Keke Palmer and not much else . The film has too much work on and much of it does n’t combine well together , with Alice not getting enough fourth dimension to develop before the moving-picture show ’s big ending .
Alice ( Palmer ) is a hard worker in antebellum Georgia , the preferable “ domestic ” of the barbarous plantation proprietor Paul Bennett ( Jonny Lee Miller ) , who only taught Alice to read so that she could read to him . Alice is married to Joseph ( Gaius Charles ) and they both dream of running by together . While this idea seems hopeless to their friends and family , Alice feels there is something bigger out there waiting for her . They lean further into their plans after take Joseph ’s granddaddy saw a man drop curtain from the sky wear out strange dress . When things go amiss and Joseph is caught , Alice take flight on her own , running through the woods until she progress to a highway in 1973 and is virtually run over by Frank ( Common ) , a truck gadget driver who bring her back to his home in a bid to help oneself . Alice must adjust to being in the 1970s and plots her retaliation against Paul .
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Aliceso often feel misleading and empty , spin out wildly from one give tone to a totally different one after the nominal fictitious character salvo through to 1973 . The timeline twist is n’t enough to keep the motion picture afloat , especially as the first half hour has a much steady focal point and does well to lie the basis of what ’s to come . But rather than more fully exploring what it stand for for Alice to be in a different century and gratuitous , the celluloid is adamantine on getting thing out of the way as cursorily as potential to get to its conclusion . That Alice does n’t exist in the 1970s for longer than a day before she learns everything about the present and confronts her past make the ending palpate a sight less complete with regards to her character ontogenesis .
By the prison term Alice settle she ’s going back for revenge , the film borders on being more silly than serious . Alicetakes a pageboy out of Pam Grier’sCoffyto get fashionable payback on Paul and , while it ’s a clear court to blaxploitation films , it ’s a moment that does n’t palpate peculiarly at home inAlice . It ’s a unknown combination and one that is n’t manage very well . It ’s at last Keke Palmer ’s operation that lends any believability to all the emotions Alice is feeling . As Alice read her way through the history of Black mass , catching up on everything that ’s chance — from the Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights Movement — Palmer ’s eyes and facial expressions do a lot to get the shock , relief , happiness , frustration , and outright anger her character feels . And it is only through her exceptional portrayal thatAliceis redeemed .
Common has a lot less material to work with and Frank is a far more inactive lineament despite having been an activist for ten years . Frank has some latent hostility with his brother , but it ’s just as underdeveloped as his reasons for briefly questioning Alice ’s mission . Common ’s carrying out suffers because of it . Aside from Palmer ’s portrayal , the story is otherwise all over the place , with Ver Linden attempting to do too many things at once in a film that could have used a muckle more time to properly flesh out its arc . Any right fictitious character exploitation and the forging of new relationships is look out over and overshadowed by the retaliation thriller portion of the motion-picture show , which feels baste on to present a boot - ass ratiocination .
One can prize what Ver Linden is trying to do inAlice , but the third deed substitute style over heart , which greatly harm the film and Alice ’s journeying in it , especially as it leads to an termination that feel more sensationalized than anything . Palmer is fantastic in a film that needed more astuteness and time for Alice to acclimate to her surround . Without that , it leavesAlice’srealism and worked up nub lacking as it veers wildly into one - bank note chaos .
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Alicepremiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and is scheduled for passing on March 18 , 2022 . The film is 100 minutes long and is not yet rated .
Keke Palmer in Alice
Alice ( 2022 ) is a drama film directed by Krystin Ver Linden , star Keke Palmer in the titulary role . The story follow Alice , an enslaved woman in the 19th - century South , who escapes her captors only to hear a shocking realness beyond the limits of the plantation . The film explore report of exemption , resilience , and societal transformation with a compelling narrative and solid performances by the cast .
Keke Palmer and Common in Alice
Alice (2022) is a drama film directed by Krystin Ver Linden, starring Keke Palmer in the titular role. The story follows Alice, an enslaved woman in the 19th-century South, who escapes her captors only to discover a shocking reality beyond the limits of the plantation. The film explores themes of freedom, resilience, and societal transformation with a compelling narrative and strong performances by the cast.