1988 ‘Něco z Alenky’ Directed by Jan Švankmajer
A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare- no matter how twisted or odd that way must be. A memorably bizarre screen version of Lewis Carroll’s novel ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.
Qualcosa da Alice, Алиса, アリス, A Viagem de Alice, Αλίκη, 爱丽丝, 앨리스, Coś z Alicji, Alicia, Niečo z Alenky, Сон Аленки
France
USA
Japan
Czechia
Czechia
France
Japan
USA
Laughing imagining Jan Švankmajer at a party and some asshole is loudly proclaiming "Alice in Wonderland is not fucked up at all! It's zero percent fucked up. Hell, I'd say it's one of our least fucked up stories" and Jan is fuming, he's just absolutely pissed and so he goes home and makes this.
At the point where sock inch worms burrowed through a wooden floor, I had to ask "how did he even think of this?" Moments later, the caterpillar began talking to Alice, and I realized where it came from, but for a moment, my mind reeled at the staggering sideways thinking that would bring Svankmajer to that interpretation. When Alice (little form) twice missed reaching for a chair, I stopped to ponder how much extra work it took to craft that natural motion. Were it a human actor, sure, it might even have been a real mistake, but this was stop-motion, where I am given to understand that every little movement is a lot of work. Svankmajer felt those two misses were important enough to do the work, though, and that's beautiful.
When you pick this for family movie night and don't get to pick for family movie night anymore
Absolutely genius!! Jan Švankmajer's Alice is a deliciously dark take on Lewis Carroll's novel, with some of the best stop motion I've ever seen. I loved the way the animation meshes with live-action scenarios and how this film always made me feel frightened, delighted, perplexed and in awe by the stunning imagery. The humor is really great, making it quite an entertaining watch . Also, there are plenty of surreal and even disturbing moments, which reminded me of David Lynch's style of filmmaking at times. I had previously seen Švankmajer's terrific short called Darkness, Light, Darkness and I can definitely notice many interesting resemblances, particularly in one scene. He manages to capture that feeling of entrapment and chaos once again very well, going even further. I am extremely overwhelmed by the level of inventiveness here and couldn't recommend Alice enough!
who the fuck thought it was a good idea to let Švankmajer put eyes on weird skull creatures
Every time that fucking rabbit stared straight into the camera, I felt my lifespan shorten by like a million years.
the description for this film on letterboxd is utterly horrible; this is no nightmare, and our alice here definitely does not act like it is one. this is perhaps the best adaptation possible for the material because it privileges alice above all else: she creates the world, and it reflects only the world she has known. she speaks for the characters she has created and she participates in her dream as her own wanderer. i found the sequence where the red queen orders the white rabbit to cut off the heads of the spatting knights so utterly charming; how even with their little paper heads severed, they continue the fight. that sequence captures the childlike perspective of the illusory nature…
Q. What if Alice in Wonderland but more disturbing and weird?
A. Yes
Q. What if we add creepy stop motion animation?
A. Yes
Q. Are you sure... it's kind of unsettling?
A. Yeah, I'm sure
Way to keep it weird Czech Republic!
Do you know how hard it is to take one of the most creative stories ever written and make it even more interesting? Alice is a weird and bizarre and I really enjoyed it. The animation is really strange but masterful with a deconstructed feel that makes the story feel more ominous and scary. At times I felt like the effects distract from the story in ways that weren't helpful but overall I like it.
I need to check out more of Jan Švankmajer's stuff because the animation is mesmerizing.
Now you will see a film, made for children – perhaps.
every time I watch a Jan Švankmajer film is a chance for my mind to be transported to a surreal little world that he conjures up, through amazing animated works, a dreamy disheveled setting and stop-motion pieces, this time with the use of taxidermy animals— this genuinely fucked me up— making this a very unsettling little creative picture of a well known children story. He is the true underrated king, a real visionary and deserves heaps and heaps of attention, more than he sorely gets. Alice is his most known and unique retelling of a visual daymare told time and time again, but never like this, although at times repetitive and…
Part of A Film A Day
Part of Essential Films To Watch
"Alice thought to herself 'Now you will see a film, made for children, perhaps. But, I nearly forgot; you must close your eyes, otherwise you won't see anything."
For me, Jan Svankmajer captures the story of Lewis Carroll's classic Alice In Wonderland like no one has before, and perhaps provides the best representation of the story. Sure, something like Disney's Alice In Wonderland is probably more of an accurate representation of Carroll's initial concept, but Svankmaier adds an interesting twist that hasn't been brought to light. He uses Carroll's storyline as a tool to exhibit surrealism, and it's the perfect vessel - starring deranged characters and an absurd…
Revisiting this for the first time since high school, when 17 year old me got stoned af and would flip out over the AMAZING visuals. Do they still hold up? Absolutely, but I’m not going to lie, around the halfway mark I began to lose interest and found some of the wonderful stop motion a bit repetitive at times, but also going against it is I’ve grown a bit weary of the ‘Alice’ story over the years as it’s just been pounded into my head so many different ways.
Regardless of how I felt about it this go around, this is essential, stunning, and the stop motion/other visuals are to die for.
