Alyce's Descent Through the Looking Glass: A Movie Review

*spoiler alert!

Director/writer: Jay Lee.

Cast: Jade Dornfeld, Tamara Feldman and James Duval.

With a title like Alyce, some viewers may have to wonder what this girl's Wonderland is going to be like. Almost from the get go, what she sees is that of the war in the Middle East—she's rather nonchalant and mesmerized by it. One message this film is making a social commentary about is on the hazards of being enamored by violence.

Alyce (Jade Dornfeld) certainly has a child-like innocence to her and Dornfield does a great job in bringing that out. The television images she sees in the ‘War on Terror’ becomes detrimental to her character. The setup for the film shows a very innocent girl living alone. The next set of images that audiences sees defines the film in the carnage being wrought, and those were the last images Alyce saw before leaving her apartment. She is headed out to go meet her best friend, Carroll (Tamara Feldman, Hatchet) for a night out on the town.

While the two are partying it up in a bar, Carroll finds her boyfriend cheating on her. Upset, the two girlfriends leave and go buy some drugs to take their frustration in life away. While on a rooftop to proclaim that they're on top of the world, what happens instead is a descent to Hell. Carroll trips, and audiences know Alyce pushed her.

Alyce's fall down the rabbit hole is one that she may not climb out of. She realizes that she has to take responsibility but she does not know how to deal with the situation. The guilt is plaguing her and she goes deeper into the world of drugs to tune it out. The movie takes a different spin as viewers watch her world begin to fall apart.

Director Jay Lee (Zombie Strippers!, The Slaughter) does a good job in showing what Alyce's world through the shattered glass is like. Just like the narcotics she takes, it comes through as nonsensical and disparate. He delves into the psychology of what happens when drugs are abused. Also, the film turns into a satirical product. The way she dispenses with her mistakes is very humourous and messy. It’s a statement in how people just do not care. While some Vietnam War vets were reaching out for help, they were met with a silent discord.

The one consistent metaphor is in how Alyce is tuned into the world of television. That gets projected on the wall for her to feel and touch, and to become intimate with. What audiences see in the later half of the film is a very different Alyce. She is like a soldier who has came home from a prolonged war, with no one to turn to. She does not have any family able to help her.

After all the problems and viciousness that she has wrought, the answer is just as simple as the drugs used to placate her demons. In the film, the only word brought out at the end is brilliant stroke of scripting. Just ask, "What?"

Overall: 7 out of 10.

The film's homepage is here:

The Alyce Official Website

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Posted in: 2011,2011 release,bloody fairy tales,drug use,fairy tales,fairytale,movie poster,movie review,surreal