Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Okay, this is the beginning of what I have dubbed 'The week of Scorsese", where every day, for the next week, I will be watching a film by acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Now, people have said this wasn't a typical Scorsese film, but for what it was, I really liked it a lot.

The story follows Alice, played by Ellen Burstyn, who, after the death of her abusive husband, leaves her home with her young son and tries to make ends meet, and along the way, may encounter some new romance as well. I have to say that this film felt very much like a slice of life sort of film, kind of getting to see the life of a newly single mother and how she learns to make decisions for herself where before she was beholden to her husband.

The acting was great, with the best performance clearly going to Burstyn for her genuinely human performance, showing many different sides to Alice's character, and it made me really connect with her a lot. I'd say the other performances that really impressed me were the two romantic interests encountered in the film: Ben, a bar patron portrayed fantastically by Harvey Keitel, and David, a rancher played by Kris Kristofferson. I loved seeing how, again, both Ben and David were multifaceted characters, and it makes me believe that Scorsese values, above all else, making his characters feel like they're human beings and not just ideas.

Overall, this film was definitely an interesting start to the world of Scorsese, and I would say that, if you're a slice of life fan, this movie could just be your cup of tea.

Next time, we journey into a musical film featuring the talents of Robert De Niro and Liza Minelli. Keep an eye out for New York, New York.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mario Marathon Part 6: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

I have to say, Mario way back in the early days of gaming used to be so creative, and this game is no exception. I mean, just like its predecessor, it's very weird, but that's what makes it so charming and fun to play. As with the first Mario Land title, this game was released on the Game Boy, but for being a game on such a simple console, they did quite a lot with the visuals and world designs. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that this game makes the first Super Mario Land look like a tech demo by comparison. The story is the usual flavor of weird that the first game had as well. Mario's castle that he just...has for some reason, has been taken over by the evil Wario and the door to the castle can only be unlocked by going to six zones and finding the golden coins that reside in each. Yeah, this game has a weird story. The six zones are really where the game shines, in my opinion. There is the tree zone, which is a grassland type area that takes place in a giant ...
Read more

Mario Marathon Part 4: Super Mario Land

Well, this was certainly a game, or at least, a good demonstration of one. This is one of the more bizarre Mario games out there, so let's talk about why that is. Super Mario Land was the first portable mainline Mario game, released for Nintendo's black and white Game Boy. So how did Mario on the go end up doing? Well, quite weirdly as mentioned earlier. While it is a 2D platformer like the other games reviewed so far, this game definitely tried to stand out in ways no other Mario game really has done before. The story follows Mario as he tries to save the kingdom of Sarasaland and its princess, Daisy, from the evil alien Tatanga. Already a departure from the norm for sure, but even the enemies are weird. For example, Koopas now turn into bombs when you jump on them instead of just hiding in their shells so you can kick them later on. The game plays like the first Mario game, but in black and white, with more bizarre enemies like the aforementioned Bombshell Koopas, and actual ...
Read more

Mario Marathon Part 1: Super Mario Bros

I like Mario, that much is clear from the random beginning of this specific marathon, but regardless, there has been so much Mario content that has come out over the last few years that a review of all the Mario games I consider important sounds like a no-brainer. Well, after a couple weeks of thinking about this, that's exactly what I am doing, and what better place than the game that started it all? That, of course, is Super Mario Bros. Now, this game is hardly the most complex thing out there. It's a sidescrolling platformer where you play as a plumber named Mario who has to save the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom from the villainous turtle dragon thing known as Bowser. But even this simple plot was revolutionary for gaming. You see, prior to this game, video games didn't have any sort of story to them and really were just things made to rack up high scores. This was the first game to really give a more fleshed out story than "Get as much points and then, I don...
Read more