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Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Our Price: £7.85 (subject to change)
Scorsese channels Douglas Sirk
Review date: 2008-01-31 Rating: 8 out of 10
At times almost harking back to the Douglas Sirk weepies of the 50s, Scorsese's follow-up to Mean Streets could not have been more different, but he attacks his material in much the same manner, if with a noticeably bigger budget. The camera is still restless but where many of his later films have gravitated towards camera effects and viscera, the nervy photography is here still designed to serve the characters rather than just pump up the scene. There are still the inevitable explosions of violence (when you see a soft-spoken and charming Harvey Keitel, you know a flick-knife's not far behind) but in a recognisable domestic context here.
Dealing with everyday people and everyday emotions, the opening sequence hints at the shortfall between movie-inspired dreams and real life that was to become the backbone of Scorsese's heavily stylised New York, New York, but while the less ambitious film, this is by far the more perfectly realised. And Ellen Burstyn's performance is a revelation. As the recently widowed mother trying to eke out a living as a singer on the road but ending up as a waitress in a small-town cafe, she demonstrates an astonishing range without resorting to the kind of acting pyrotechnics and incessant technique that limited so many actresses of the Streep era. Even in an oustanding cast, she leaves them all standing.
With a great use of music - as in Mean Streets a mixed bag of seventies rock and standards - and an exciting blend of energy and sensitivity that comes as much from the superb screenplay as the direction, this too has defied the years and remains just as vital and relevant to everyday life and dreams four decades on as it did on its first release.
Along with a good widescreen transfer the disc includes an audio commentary by Martin Scorsese, Ellen Burstyn and Kris Kristofferson, a documentary featurette Second Chances and the original theatrical trailer.
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Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Billy Green Bush
Ellen Burstyn
Diane Ladd
Harvey Keitel
Kris Kristofferson
Director(s):
Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Model: D019121
EAN: 7321900191210
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 107 unknown-units
Language: English (Unknown)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Published)
Brand: Warner Bros Pictures