3-11-10 Movie Reviews: The Messenger and Alice in Wonderland

You still have one chance to see all the Oscar-nominated short subjects, including the documentaries, this Saturday at 10 in Warren Theatre Oldtown, and one to see all the animations and live-action but NOT the documentaries today at the Evergreen Branch library, 2601 North Arkansas, at 5. Friday at 6:30, the Laurel and Hardy fan club will show The Big Noise from 1944 and two shorts, a silent, "On the Front Page" and an early talkie, "Unaccustomed As We Are," at Calvary Methodist Church, 2525 North Rock Road. Also on Friday, the Murdock Theatre at 536 North Broadway will show the first of a two-part French classic, Jean de Florette, with Gerard Depardieu, at 7:30, with the second part, Manon of the Spring, with Yves Montand, next week, both from the mid-eighties.

And commercially, we have two movies of more than usual interest in The Messenger and Alice in Wonderland.

The Messenger is a spare, rather grim story of two soldiers assigned to notify next of kin that their loved ones are dead, with Woody Harrelson nominated for an Oscar as the leader and Ben Foster as the recruit. It's a revelation of a kind of duty most of us know little about, and while neither protagonist is particularly attractive, you have to sympathize with them as they go about their heart-tugging job under its iron rules, which I don't know whether to approve of or not. Foster is already damaged by his experiences in combat, and Harrelson is damaged by the job and is a warning to Foster of what he may become; Emily Mortimer may represent hope, but she has reason to be wary, and a lot of current movies show women being more wary then they used to be. The whole thing is almost too realistic to be entertaining, but it's a work of art, with long-held shots suitable to people who don't know what to do and have to keep their reactions under control.

Alice in Wonderland contrasts in almost every way, with maybe too much plot, too many characters, and way too much exotic effects. The characters follow closely those of Lewis Carroll and illustrator John Tenniel, but the story is the old wicked-queen and simon-pure protagonist, journey and dragon-fight that might serve better if time were taken to develop anything; what we have is a succession of licks and promises with all manner of excellent touches but a general lack of charm. Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen, the white rabbit, and the Cheshire Cat are tops, but they tend to repeat rather than deepen as we go along, and Alice herself is pretty flat, apparently on purpose because she isn't allowed to react to much of anything. Anne Hathaway is dressed in white for purity, but made up like a dead-white Goth and looks positively spooky. Settings are reminiscent of Tenniel, but color and widescreen make them seen too lush for the rather cheerless story. Lewis Carroll's wit and verbal satire are mostly missing; despite the lavish and often gorgeous visuals, the original; Alice in Wonderland is neither a completely satisfactory representation of a classic original nor something satisfactorily new. But it is frequently wonderful visually and it keeps moving along. There is too much throwing of things at the 3-D screen though; I had hoped we were over that.