Alice Dos Anjos (2021) is truely a wonderful adaptation of Carroll

NOTE: I saw this in December when it was streaming on Innsaei TV Brazil for 2 days. It has since come to my attention that this film is no longer streaming anywhere. As such I will try and keep spoilers to a minimum.

(Tiffanie Costa as Alice in Alice Dos anjos) 

Directed by: Daniel Leite Almeida

Adapted from: Alice's adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass 

(parts of both books)

Due to the amount of adaptations currently filming, it may be best to consider this adaptation 1 of the decade... it certainly looks like there will be more. 

The first adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice books in TV or film (Excluding filmed theatre performances) for 20 years (yes, 1999 really was THAT long ago)  Alice Dos Anjos (2021) carries a lot of weight of expectation on it. A small, indie Brazilian Portuguese language film, this was released at an online festival for an extremely limited time. 

Alice (played fantastically by Tiffanie Costa) walks into a land of wonder accidentally after being given some momentous family news. She finds a place populated with her grandmother's stories, a place that is alternately strange and wondrous, and also under threat from local developers...

The influence of previous adaptations such as 1999 and 1985 can be felt in this version with the inclusion of a subplot. However unlike those two versions, Dos Anjos integrates a subplot in far more seamlessly, so much so that a first time audience may barely notice the subtle slide from Carroll's material to subplot. In a sense, this can be considered a re-visioning of these two adaptations, taking in elements of both but also finding ways to make those elements better. Because Alice Dos Anjos's subplot is political in nature (concerning hydro politics and land building) it will be interesting to compare this film to 1976 Pla and 1988 jan svankmajer which also used Carroll as a theme to talk about government and climate. 

The nature of the adaptation is one which is extremely unique: it relies on the audience recognizing and knowing parts of Carroll are being adapted, but it does not strictly use Carroll's texts or words. For example, a white rabbit's house scene and a dum and dee scene happen at the same time, but because the characters are not called "traditional" names, this might be harder to spot than usual. Another key part of this adaptation that sadly I cannot know fully is its culture and values: the film is rooted in the culture of Northeast Brazil and its people. The idea of a highly localized Alice is similar somewhat to Svankmajer: a specific adaptation set at a specific time and place. 

Sky Arts's V and A Exhibition documentary is a love letter to Carroll's work, its impact on culture and why it matters

 

"All in the golden afternoon

Full leisurely we glide;

For both our oars, with little skill,

By little arms are plied,

While little hands make vain pretense

Our wanderings to guide."

- Lewis Carroll, frontispiece poem for Alice's adventures in Wonderland, used as the first lines of this documentary.

(Trailer above: click to play)

The V and A documentary Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser (co produced by Trafalgar releasing and Sky Arts UK) is nominally a look around the V and A exhibition of the same name. However the commentary and voices used build it into a much bigger picture: a love letter to Carroll's works and their impact on culture. The piece is presented by Andi Oliver and features heavy contributions from Kate Bailey, who devised the London exhibit. 

Starting in the Victorian era, with the Liddell sisters, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and the Alice's adventures Underground manuscript, the documentary charts a path from there to now, across 100 + years of theatre, film, art and fashion. 

The look at Charles Dodgson and his life is beautifully measured and mature, a rarity in any cultural work which speaks about Dodgson (this and the ARTE documentary mesh wonderfully together!) 

Included in this documentary are many impressive rooms and shots from the London exhibition, from a glowing video room comprised entirely of text from Carroll's books, to a seaside pier which slowly changes into the form of Carroll's caterpillar. Sometimes the camera will cut to shots of a little girl dressed as Alice exploring the exhibition rooms in wonder, these parts aren't too intrusive and we get to hear pieces of Carroll's books recited beautifully via a voice over. 

In particular attention is paid to how Alice has been appropriated by various different art movements up to the present day. Here we see art by Max Ernst and Ralph Steadman from the 20th century but also Chris Riddell's recent illustrations.

In a way, this piece argues that Carroll's place in popular culture isn't just a place but a way of thinking. As one contributor says "its a way of life, isn't it?"

Overall, a beautiful documentary which deserves to be seen and a beautiful prosperity recording of a very special exhibition.

• Sky Arts link (UK viewers only)

Reacting to the Alice, Through the Looking Trailer (POFF 2021 festival trailer)

(Saskia Axten as Alice in Alice, through the Looking. Image from the trailer) 

Down went Alice after the rabbit, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again....

The official trailer for Adam Donen's political AIW for adults, Alice, Through the Looking was released a few weeks ago. This trailer is for the POFF festival in Estonia, where the film will have its World Premiere in mid November (November 25th to be exact!) 

No UK release date has been set, but as always this post will be updated if that changes.

Press synopsis (from POFF Festival):

Alice, Through the Looking: À la recherche d'un lapin perdu Composer-turned-director Adam Donen brings his pleasingly bizarre, Brexit-referencing Alice in Wonderland retelling to Black Nights for its world premiere. Leading us through this new reality is the soothing voice of Vanessa Redgrave as narrator, alongside Slavoj Žižek, among many other surprises, visual and auditory.

 Set in London on the day of the 2016 referendum on EU membership, philosophy student Alice loses her newfound boyfriend Rabbit and has to search for him in an upside down version of London which is part Wonderland, part post Brexit anxiety landscape.

Trailer can be watched here. (TW: trailer contains some strong language and sex, so potentially slightly NSFW)

Official film site (with links to social media) here. 

My thoughts: 

• At first glance this looks very, very different to every AIW character using film or adaptation. Alice is 20 here and in a romantic and sexual relationship with Rabbit (this element reminds me of the 1982 film Alicja, where a grown up Alice was also in love with a man called rabbit, however the relationship looks slightly more explicit here) 

• Wonderland-Brexit-London is also depicted as being a somewhat harsh place (the politicians laughing at the end of the trailer, the bloodstained Queen) than is traditionally seen. Add to this the carrollian voice over of the elderly lady (paraphrasing a line from carroll) and the tonal shift is very deliberately marked. Sections of the film appear to feature characters not from Carroll, signalling that this might be a half adaptation or character using film only (we don't know yet) 

• However this trailer also includes several elements that will be familiar to most carroll fans, namely the function of the mirror, the fun scene with the caterpillar private detective (still in keeping with Carroll's ideas) and the brief shots of Dum and Dee as policemen. Whilst its certain this version will go to darker places than expected (due to the political context) there is also an eccentric, off the wall tone in this trailer too. 

• Despite the Carroll characters looking different from how we might expect, the look and costumes of the Queen and Alice echo their tenniel originals.

• The press notes state that at one point in this film Alice splits into three people. Again this personality split appears to be inspired by Carroll. 

The new ARTE documentary about Carroll might be the best documentary ever made about this author

Watch this beautiful Documentary here (in French) or here (in german with optional autotranslated english subtitles) 

Unlike other things in the past, ARTE TV very much did their research here, featuring in the documentary prominantly is Oxford based Alice scholar Franziska Kholt and World expert on Lewis Carroll Edward Wakeling. The documentary is mainly about the path from Dodgson telling what would become Alice's adventures in Wonderland to the Liddell sisters and friends to the publishing of the expanded story, and the original draft manuscript eventually being given to Alice Liddell. In particular the documentary elaborates on what this meant for culture. Also features some very beautiful views of Oxford and surrounding places. 

The documentary also dismantles what Leach termed "the carroll myth" and explains why Carroll's reputation soured in the 20th century, a fault that lies with badly informed extremely early psychology hack writers and misunderstandings between the societal treatment of children in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Unfortunately this documentary hasn't quite had an English language release yet (although according to this page, it is coming) but I will update if/when this happens. For now, English language readers will have to autotranslate the youtube subtitles. Not perfect, but hopefully offers some glimpses into how good this piece is. 

Please enjoy :) 

SOURCES:

IMAGES: ARTE distribution DE