Writer/director Krystin Ver Linden tries to pack a lot of different ideas and cinematic styles in her debut feature Alice. The result is a compelling, if somewhat rushed at points, genre mash-up that delivers a good share of thrills along with plenty of social commentary.
Alice (Keke Palmer) is a slave on a plantation in Georgia during the Antebellum period. She marries another slave named Joseph (Gaius Charles), which doesn’t sit well with plantation owner Paul Bennett (Johnny Lee Miller), who abuses her mentally and physically, and reserves Sundays for sexually abusing her.
When Joseph’s plans for escape after discovering an artifact that doesn’t fit into the time period — part of a story handed down from a fellow slave — go awry and he is seemingly killed, Alice makes her own attempt at escape.
Unfortunately the trailer and poster for the film give away a major twist of the film, but this happens early enough in the proceedings that it is clear that Ver Linden didn’t see this twist as being a shocking reveal, but rather as a means to transition the film from establishing sympathetic characters and villains in a traumatic setting in what seems to be a historical drama to a full-on action/revenge/fantasy wish-fulfillment genre film borrowing heavily from blaxploitation films of the 1970s. This occurs when Alice is almost hit by a truck driven by a man named Frank (Common), who is initially skeptical of Alice’s story but who introduces her to 1970s music, pop culture, and most importantly, to the history of freed slaves and the struggles of Black Americans over the decades.
Alice’s crash course on that history happens pretty much in a one-day period. Taught to read by Frank for his entertainment, Alice is an intelligent, strong-willed young woman who soaks in those history lessons, but the time in which she becomes enlightened and plans for revenge is unrealistically short, thanks to the plot rushing through her education. She changes her hairstyle and mode of dress during that same brief time period, and a screening of Coffy, starring Pam Grier, sets her out on her quest to avenge Joseph’s death and Bennet’s treating people who should be free as slaves.
The rush for Alice’s getting up to speed on Black history is the only weak point of this film, in my opinion, as the cast members all turn in fine performances, particularly Palmer, who shines in scenes in which she shows anguish and a fiery determination. Ver Linden’s direction is solid, and the film looks great. Alice also boasts a strong, adrenaline-driven climax to go along with its other positive qualities.
Alice, from Vertical and Roadside Attractions, premieres in theaters on March 18, 2022.
