Alice in the Cities

press release:

ALICE IN THE CITIES (ALICE IN DEN STÄDTEN): West Germany | 1974 | DCP | 111 min. | German with English subtitles

Director: Wim Wenders; Cast: Rüdiger Vogler, Yella Rottländer, Lisa Kreuzer

Using Robby Müller’s beautiful black and white 16mm cinematography, Wenders tells the serio-comic tale of a blonde-haired not-quite father and daughter duo forced to make the best of it while stuck together in NYC, Amsterdam, and Germany. It’s fun to view Alice as an answer to Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon, although as Michael Almereyda points out in his Criterion Collection essay, “The narrative in (this movie) seems to follow a map rather than a plot”. The first film in what would later be known as the “road” trilogy, the understated and sweet-natured Alice introduces us to Wenders’ laconic stand-in, Vogler, and a pitch perfect performance from the young Rottländer. It also has an appearance by Chuck Berry! (BR)

Along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders completes the triumvirate of internationally acclaimed filmmakers that emerged in the New German Cinema movement of the 1970s. The titles selected for this retrospective series represent Wenders’ very best movies from the 70s and 80s. Many of the selections reveal Wenders’ particular talent in finding new kinds of “road movies” that feature his protagonists traveling through multiple cities and sometimes across continents.