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Alice's House (2007)

Director: Chico Teixeira

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2 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out New York

Alice (Ribas), a fortyish manicurist stuck in a stale marriage and a stifling family, finds respite in an affair with a high-school sweetheart. Meanwhile, her husband and three sons are left to their own devices, which include thieving and scoring with teenage girls—and stealing the home of Alice’s lonely mother. The capable cast, director’s documentarian past and ambient soundtrack heighten the film’s real-life sensibility, perfectly capturing the working-class life of a São Paulo family. With no favelas or guns in sight, it’s a welcome, atypical contribution to the recent crop of Brazilian cinematic exports.

Author: Monika Fabian

Time Out New York Issue 643: January 24-31

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User reviews of this film

  • News Observer said...
    Posted on Jan 25 2008 11:15 This movie can make you feel uncomfortable most of the time for its crude reality, but it also can bring to your heart a strange compassion for ordinary people's lack of perspective and conformity with moral misery. The film is slow, but you cannot abandon its narration, waiting for a solution that - alas! - never comes. You end up with many questions and maybe this is the film's ultimate contribution.
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  • Imprensa said...
    Posted on Jan 25 2008 10:56 This is a very good movie I would call a pathetic-realistic insight into the life of normal working class people in Brazilian metropolis. The absence of any musical soundtrack makes for an intense focus on the characters' drama. One's eyes become the camera itself as it unfolds the odds of one more disfunctional family. This movie is ultra realism. There is no escape, no embellishments of reality, no false hope, just the crude awakening to the bad choices made in life. The acting is absolutely superb.
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Cast & crew

Director: Chico Teixeira

Cast: Carla Ribas, Berta Zemel, Vinicius Zinn

Rated: NR

Duration: 92 mins

US Release: Jan 25 2008


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