Review of Alice in the Cities (1974) by Martin T — 11 Oct 2009

Phil Winter (Rüdiger Vogler), a German journalist with a bad case of writer's block, decides to fly home from New York to finish an article he is writing about America. His hopes of meeting his unsympathetic editor's deadline are frustrated when a compatriot making the same journey stays behind to resolve a troubled relationship, leaving her nine year old daughter, Alice (Yella Rottländer), in his care.

One of the things I like about this movie is the fascinating contrast between the director's rabid enthusiasm for Americana and his central character's ambivalence towards it: childlike wonder versus jaded cynicism.

In addition to telling a sweet story with an admirable lack of sentimentality, Wenders appears to be commenting on the pervasiveness of American popular culture, whether it be Canned Heat on a jukebox in Wuppertal, Chuck Berry on a European tour or John Ford's obituary in a German newspaper.

Though the film is not quite free of the stodgy dialogue that would go on to spoil his next feature, The Wrong Move, some truly magical moments more than compensate, for example Phil and Alice's ride on the extraordinary Schwebebahn monorail - whose cinematic potential was surely Wenders' main reason for sending the pair to Wuppertal - or the part where Phil attempts to impress Alice by 'blowing out' the lights of the Empire State Building.