ALICE

Curiosity, terror, vengeance, and surrealism infuse this haunted adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic. Svankmajer strips away the cuteness that has marked other adaptations, to create a twisted fantasy of obsession, a delicious, convoluted, goose-bump-raising nightmare. A shabby animal pelt comes to eerie life as the cunning, bright-eyed White Rabbit, portrayed as an adversary and mastermind rather than a mere guide. Alice is not a victim but a pragmatic little adventurer who can gamely come to terms with an aggressive rat in a blue velvet suit or kick the stuffing out of an offending toy. In Czech with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)