Alice in den Städten

Very calm, interesting and odd. It does not follow all the Hollywood road movie cliches and it stands somewhere aside from the rest of the genre movies. It is very nice to look at and, most of all, it is not boring at all. Very significant example of Wander's movies.

A sort of prototype for Paris Texas, with the same deliberate pacing and themes of alienation. Alice, however, is far more limited in scope. It presents the protagonist's emotional dislocation but it shies away from exploring the reasons or consequences of it. The characters are, therefore, flat, and their motives, while credible, are not particularly interesting. When combined with the meandering plot, it makes for a tedious watch, one which lacks emotional resonance.

Wenders fashions a subtle and sedate narrative surface that deals only in humdrum events and that has an unerring sense of the stale taste of life on the road. Meanwhile, the really big subjects underlying this movie (the homogenization of Western culture, the rootlessness of the individual, and other such whoppers) are passed over lightly, felt but not examined, as if they were buried under a layer of ashes.

Such an endearing philosophy on value. It's not -all that- but it is a very pleasant one-hour-and-fifty. No doubt Linklater saw this. Also reminds me of Keane due to the similar plot.

An exploration into the depths of the American Dream, while meditating on the opposing European culture. In this sense, this dichotomy reverberates between the differences of children and adults. The American Dream, and American exceptionalism by extension, is inverted when Alice and her mother decide to return to Europe. The moods are more airy and contemplative than they are deep and insightful, but the charm is in these little moments; and these small, fragile moments make the film.

What's original about this film?

Nice little film about alienation and restlessness. Lags a bit.

good movie

An understated road movie that addresses the philosophy of travel in a way few American films of the genre do. Wenders collides his European sensibility with outside observations of the U.S. in a charmingly aimless narrative about human connection as the center of memory and place. The film is dense with commentary on urban malaise and the alienating effects of the road, but it's packed into a slow, serene slice-of-life package, making it an approachable and quaint exploration of modern travel.

We see a young writer/artist, disaffected with everything and everyone, forever between places. Circumstance places a girl into his life and everything makes more sense. It's not a very plot-based movie, but very gorgeous.

A wonderfully poetic piece that starts as a distant ode to the city (I could watch hours of that opening montage) and transitions into warm humanism as effortlessly as it leaves each of it settings behind. An odyssey from the concrete jungle (as seen through the ever-present Polaroid) to the unlikely duo doing stretches in the middle of nowhere.

Takes some time but than it's a great road movie.

Wenders manages to set an American road trip almost entirely in Germany. Cohesive mood and great pacing!

Lovely movie. Beautiful photography

Because probabilities are more appealing than sheer hopelessness of waiting around to die.

Begins well with some well written dialogue to oneself, but once the mother and daughter are battered into the story, it becomes a fairly pedestrian, uneventful, and overall unspecial road movie.

Narratively it's a bit weak with unreasonable events and actions, as well as threads that are left hanging. But the narrative is mostly a foundation for an incredible examination of a mood, a series of thoughts and feelings intrinsically tied to a time and a type of character but whose core strikes at the human need for acceptance and purpose.

It has quite a nostalgic feel as well as a somewhat surreal sense to it, or, perhaps, a quietly contemplative nomadic sense. Its a plodding plot but I enjoyed the general aimlessness it has regardless. Its not entirely aimless as such but it'd be fair to say that there isn't a strong sense of being in a rush, not so much due to the plot but in terms of the light and floaty music played in the background and frequent camera shots of the area their in, whether by train or car, rural and suburban.

# 417

The American part was pretty stucky and uninteresting, but I liked Alice and her mother. Rüdiger did not touch that much. The European part got more and more better towards the end. Interesting road movie. Nice comparing with cities and countires. Well, actually continents. There was a funny announcement in the airport, Mr. Wenders.

kimlik bunalımı, hayatın rastgeleliği ve wim wendersın şehir turları

Somewhat touching, but not touching enough to make up for it being a little boring and slow.

Philip Winter: "I got completely lost. It was a horrible journey. Once you leave New York City nothing changes anymore. It all looks the same. You can't imagine anything anymore. Above all, you can't imagine any change. I became estranged from myself. All I could imagine was going on and on like this forever."

384

Typical Wenders fare, which is great if you're a fan.

Mesmerizingly boring

Turning the theme of American mobility into a European concept was an interesting idea.

Nobody manages it so well to bring two very different cities such as New York and Duisburg together in one movie than Wenders.

watched: 2015, 2017

philip has an article to write so he starts taking care of alice out of procrastination

Road movies are intrinsically about the journey and not the destination, so the fact that this movie meanders a lot didn't bother me. As an Americana-laced voyage of self-discovery, I view it as a precursor to Paris, Texas but not as irritating. There are a few annoying bits, primarily when Wenders seems to be getting overly snotty about American culture or tries to find a cute moment with Alice, but they're few and far between. Like most Wenders films, it's kind of underwhelming, but pleasant.

Em honra dos 75 anos que Wim Wenders está completando hoje. Wenders tem a essência do road movie pulsando nas veias, não há nada além de beleza aqui, só não dou cinco estrelas porque aquele superego não parava de me atormentar com um "que diabos de mãe faria uma coisa dessas?" durante todo o filme. Box Obras-primas do Cinema Trilogia da Estrada.

2024'de #IzlediğimFilmler ; 95. Alice in den Städten (1974) Win Wenders sinemasına aşığım. Yine müthiş bir eser kendisinden. Hiç bitmesin istedim. Teşekkürler #İstanbulFilmFestivali 10/10

That a mother and such a little daughter would be separated, the girl left in the care of a strange man, and both would be so chill about it, seems really far-fetched even for the 1970s when the world was admittedly very chill. Otherwise, it's a decent film without a great deal of grit or depth or impact. As an adult/child dynamic it feels like a bit of a blueprint for Wenders' superior "Paris, Texas".

408

alice and philip are on the boat going somewhere. the police officer finds them. he asks philip why he didn't bring the girl back to the police station even though her mother and grandmother had been found. philip smiles. the officer smiles back.

What a fantastic road/relationship movie. This kind of road movie isn't always my thing, but this one captured my interest. While I couldn't quite get behind the idea of him not going to the police earlier, and while it lags ever so slightly at times, the relationship between him and the girl feels very organic and real and develops interestingly. Would make an interesting double bill with Paper Moon.

A soothing journey that parallels adulthood and the youth. It's dialogue touches on the void of existence and how empty the American dream is outside a city like New York. The toxicity of media (thank god back then it was only TV and radio) becomes existent as one searches for their story. On the road, the two are both charming and hopeful - and here Wenders previews what incredible work will soon come after

#410

Entfremdung meets Geworfenheit. They're on a plane. They're in a car. They're on a boat. They're on a train. They deny and balk, but then they accept and embrace.