I didn't know much about Alice doesn't live here anymore before I watched it. I had a vague hunch it would be some romantic Cheese. It isn't. The film is, like many other US movies from the 70's, gritty and mostly uncompromising. The acting was great - Jodi Foster was stunning as a tough, foul-mouthed kid. It's hard to know what to expect of a Scorsese movie, as he's got films such as Kundun (the horror, the horror!) and Gangs of New York on his conscience. But then again, he directed Bringing out the dead which is one of my favorite movies. Alice... is one of the best character dramas I've watched in a while and here Scorsese actually deals with the subject of Machismo.
I also watched another film tonight, El Perro, a film about a man and his dog. It's a short little film about dog shows, dog breeding and our relation to animals. This was an interesting film to watch for me, as I sometimes wonder about the strange phenomenon of dog breeding and dog shows. At one point in the film, one of the characters said of his "business" that it's simply a factory. The scenes displaying breeders' ("the factory owners") ideas about dog sexuality were both funny, disturbing and absurd. I was a little bit disappointed about the portrayal of the main character, unused to the many conventions of dog shows, and his attitude towards it all. Maybe it was too subtle for me to get but I felt something was being glossed over. It was, however, a likeable, down-to-earth film I am really glad I watched.
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