Disney’s 1951 classic “Alice in Wonderland” was plenty strange on its own, presenting a twisted, but vibrant and somewhat sweet take on Lewis Carroll’s tale of the little girl who falls down the rabbit hole.
“Alice,” the film that Dutch animator Jan Svankmajer created decades later, was much darker. The film pairs a real child with handmade puppets and other objects scooting around in gloomier quarters, in contrast to the lively environs you’ve seen in other adaptations. Svankmajer also highlights the less rosy aspects of the story, such as the arbitrary and violent nature of the imaginary world’s high court at the end.
Svankmajer said in a 2011 interview that other adaptations have presented a fairy tale of Carroll’s classic, whereas “my Alice is a realised dream.”
Follow Alice down a different rabbit hole tonight at The Parkway, which is screening the film in its ongoing series with Sweaty Eyeballs Animation.
7 p.m., The Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Ave., (443) 438-6144, mdfilmfest.com, $10.
