What
Alice Found is low-budget indie gem that explores an unsavory stretch of the backroads
of the American dream through the eyes of young woman named Alice. Alice is portrayed
remarkably well by a 25-year newcomer Emily Grace - she's a normal, somewhat underprivileged
girl who grew up without a father, on the wrong side of the tracks and has seen
only the tawdry dreams and pleasures common to rebellious white trash teenage
life. Cheap wine and meaningless sex, pot, beer, lousy jobs - pretty much the
minimum wages of sin. Alice isn’t without her dreams however, her best friend
hales form a well-to-do family who look down their nose at her. Her friend has
left her, having recently moved to Florida to attend college. Alice, by hook or
by crook is going to escape the confines of her lower middle class New Hampshire
hell hole and drive to Florida where the warm sunshine of her future brightly
shines.
One
night at work a wad of twenties falls out of the deposit bag beneath a table,
and Alice sees it as her ticket to Florida. Once there she’ll move in with
her friend and work until she can afford to get into college to pursue her dreams
of being the sort of Oceanographer who works with Dolphins. Dolphins become symbolic
of her dreams, her innocence and her hopes for escape. She packs lightly, and
with her ill-gotten stake in an envelope and a map of the Eastern Seaboard she
blows town in old beater of a car, that’s unlikely to make it out of New
Hampshire much less deliver her safely to Florida. On the road she has a minor
run-in with a couple young jerks who make a lewd gesture and she responds by flipping
them the bird. She stops off at a rest area, and reaches under her seat where
she hides the envelope with her newfound life savings and walks away rubbernecking
a bit to make sure the boys from the road haven’t followed her. Upon returning
to her car a woman approaches her and tells her of a man who had looked inside
her car and ran off.
This
good Samaritan turns out to be a kindly looking red-headed middle-aged woman named
Sandra (Judith Ivey) who is on the road with her husband Bill (Bill Raymond) traveling
the country in their RV. They’re retired and they enjoy their nomadic lifestyle
as she says heading to wherever the snow “ain’t.” Soon they discover
that a tire is flat on Alice's car, and Sandra prevails on her husband to help
the poor girl put on her spare. Bill, a chinless, balding fellow still in good
physical shape, is happy to oblige and as they are saying their thanks and good-byes,
Sandra suggests it might be a good idea if Alice were to follow them for a few
miles, just to be on the safe side. Writer director A. Dean Bell does a good job
of imbuing their kindly manner with a shadow of suspicion and portent. Alice agrees
to the idea, but breaks down en route. Pulling off onto the shoulder, it's not
too long before a guy appears, wanting to help. But her guardian couple have doubled
back and, letting a peak of the pistol in his belt do most of the talking, ex-marine
Bill convinces the guy that they won’t be needing his help. Right away it
becomes obvious that the couple are particularly suspicious of others?
Alice’s
car is disabled beyond the point where having it repaired would cost more than
it’s worth and after some convincing she agrees to abandon it and join the
couple in their RV, but not before Bill has removed her license plate so the car
may not be traced. Another red flag that the director throws up to set our detective
engines racing. Gathering her gear, Alice finds her money envelope is nowhere
to be found, which, for the time being is going to put her at the mercy of her
roadside rescuers. By this point we’ve become concerned for her - penniless
and though ostensibly in the care of kindly folk, she has left herself completely
vulnerable. Any qualms about her moral character that might have been aroused
by her theft have long ago faded and we’re traveling with her now, completely
on her side. And though, the gun and the almost “too kind” manner of
Sandra is suspect, at least she’s not stranded helplessly by the side of
the road.
The
couple promise to drive her all the way to Florida, although it may take a little
longer than the bus. They travel at a more leisurely pace. The next morning, after
a comfortable sleep and a breakfast of microwaved waffles, Sandra starts doting
on her new travel mate as if Alice were a long lost daughter. She takes her shopping
for a new outfit which turns out to be a surprisingly sexy little ensemble, and
then it’s off to the hair dressers to complete the makeover. Director Bell,
intersperses snippets of Alice’s past throughout much of the film, mostly
revealing sad circumstances from her childhood and painful realities of her present
existence. Devices such as this are almost always dodgy cinematic business, but
with the lack of a window character to help us get to know Alice, they’re
necessary and executed unobtrusively enough.
One
evening after pulling over for the night, Bill has rounded up some good old boys
who are fast getting drunk at their picnic table. One of them happens to be a
thin, young kid with dark hair and big dark eyes. His father surreptitiously slips
the kid a sawbuck and then stretches and makes overtures of calling it a night.
Soon Alice is alone with the young kid who is eager to show her what life on the
road is like in a rig that’s as tricked-out as theirs. She reluctantly takes
his hand and follows him to the truck. After a brief tour of the cabin’s
amenities, he fills her with alot of flattery and it isn’t long before they
start making out a bit. The boy pushes it a bit too far and just as she is getting
up to leave, the kid flashed her the fifty, which earns him the finger and a nice
bit of vocabulary. While walking back to the trailer a cop takes an interest in
Alice and when she innocently points to the trailer where she claims to be staying.
he remains unsatisfied and insists on escorting her. When he knocks on the door
Sandra opens it and nervously confirms her story, but the cop lingers a bit before
he shakes his head and leaves. Just then the kid’s father emerges from the
back bedroom struggling into his clothes and, after a good peak out, Bill announces
that the coast is clear and he hastily leaves the trailer.
At
this point we all have a pretty good idea why Bill and Sandra take their time
getting to any particular destination and though Alice is initially disgusted
and disapproving, she soon calms down and gets a bit of a history lesson in Bill
and Sandra 101. A day or so pass and it occurs to Alice that she might be able
to improve her impoverished circumstances in a like manner and when she tries
it on her own, she makes a mess of it, which brings Bill down on her hard. You
could have been killed, you could have got us arrested, it this is something you
really want to try then you do it our way, etc.
Her
initiation into prostitution is one of the more frank and daring scenes I’ve
witnessed in a film in a long time. It may have been heartbreaking or ridiculous
had not Emily Grace carried it off like she’s been acting all her life. It’s
an outstanding scene, that cuts to the bone, and manages to be almost touching
in it’s cheap simplicity. It comes across so real that you’d swear you
were watching it unfold through a crack in the curtains. The scene is followed
by a semi-montage of Alice plying her wares and making herself a decent piece
of change - which she shares on a 70/30 split with her chauffeurs. Some time during
this, a phone call to her friend reveals that her crime back home has her in some
pretty hot water and it’s her friends mother’s wish that she not go
to Florida to stay with her friend - period.
As
mentioned Emily Grace is absolutely convincing in her debut performance, her thick
as ice trashy blue blood accent is terrific and she takes us through this unusual
coming of age story with absolutely no trace of Hollywood affectation. The film
is shot on DV which lends to it’s gritty reality and if it weren’t for
the presence of Judith Ivey (the only recognizable face in the film) you would
swear you were right there riding along with them. Before I proceed I have to
mention that it is Ivey’s performance that really makes the film sing. It’s
a wonderful role for her at a perfect time in her career and she just tears a
swath through this thing without the slightest hint of self-consciousness. She
scarce utters a word or delivers an expression that isn’t smack dab on the
money.
I’m
loathe to give any information away about the ending of the film. It allows the
audience one more big surprise and a good twisty roller coaster ride it is. But
I shant tip my hand. This is obviously one to seek out in the video store, but
do yourself a favor, seek it out very soon. It’s fantastic film making by
a lot of new comers to feature film making. All of whom would appear to have a
future in this business.
