Alice in the Cities

No-one shoots cities quite like director Wim Wenders. When his material matches the location (Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas) the result is unforgettable, and when it doesn't (Faraway, So Close, Until the End of the World), the films are enjoyable travelogues.

Alice in the Cities sits in the Wings of Desire camp; it's an entertaining, gorgeously shot and attractively acted buddy road movie, not a million miles away from the majesty of Midnight Run.

Philip (Wenders regular Vogler), a New York based German journalist suffering a severe case of writer's block when writing about the American experience, is forced to care for Alice (Rottlander), a nine-year-old German girl, when her mother decides she must make a clean break with her ex.

When Alice's mother fails to meet them in Amsterdam, she and Philip embark on a road trip to find her grandparents somewhere in Germany; the spunky kid in a Snoopy T-shirt melting the cynical journo's frosty exterior.

A leisurely pace and naturalistic performances make Alice in the Cities a film easy to fall for.

Philip's navel gazing threatens to knock the movie off-balance, but when Alice comes on the scene both he and the movie find their focus.

Sassy and adorable, Rottlander's Alice is snotty yet vulnerable, and her relationship with the spiky Philip is note perfect. Vogeler and Rottlander have a breezy, infectious on-screen chemistry that could not be repeated in these adult/child cautious times. Unfortunately, Rottlander didn't hear her calling, and has barely acted since her turn here.

With the actors taking care of the smart script, director Wenders turns his attention to the backdrops of New York, Amsterdam and Germany, capturing their magic without resorting to picture postcard prettiness.

The first of an unofficial trilogy of road movies that included The Wrong Move and Kings of the Road, Alice in the Cities has the typical Wenders themes of alienation and loneliness, but is more accessible than some of his more "important" work.

Don't be put off by the black and white and subtitles, this is a family film with intelligence, energy and charm to spare.

Rob Daniel