Besides the acclaimed and popular later works like Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987), Wim Wenders is also known for his Road Movie Trilogy, a string of three films that came out in consecutive years in the 1970s. Alice in the Cities, the first movie in the trilogy, was released in 1974, while the other two are The Wrong Move (1975) and Kings of the Road (1976).
Alice in the Cities marks the first appearance of the director's recurring character Philip Winter (Rüdiger Vogler) who would later reappear in several other Wenders titles. This time he is a journalist and photographer who has been assigned to travel around in the United States and write a story about his experiences but suffers from a bad case of writer's block. Just before returning to his native Germany he meets a German woman called Lisa (Lisa Kreuzer) and her young daughter Alice (Yella Rottländer) who are also planning to return home. Soon Philip finds himself as Alice's temporary custodian and takes her on a long road trip through Germany in order to find her grandmother whose whereabouts seem to be more or less unknown.
Many stories have been made about men learning something new about themselves upon suddenly becoming responsible for a child. The premise can easily be made into a cheesy inspirational family movie, but luckily Alice in the Cities takes a more ambitious, or perhaps ambiguous, route. There are only three significant characters in the story: Philip appears to enjoy living and working alone but gets fairly well along with the young Alice who has also been thrown into the situation against her will but is able to maintain a positive attitude most of the time. The third important figure in the film is Alice's mother Lisa who remains rather enigmatic and does not reveal much about her motives. Philip and Alice do quietly evolve as persons over the course of the story; how exactly, the audience must figure out by themselves.
Visually the movie looks fine. The grainy black and white cinematography is guaranteed Robby Müller quality and the melancholic score is provided by the legendary German krautrock band Can. Numerous shots are filmed through car windows as Philip drives through American or German towns by himself or with Alice, so admirers of urban environments can get a neat first-hand view of a traveler. I especially liked the scenes on or near the suspended monorail in Wuppertal, Germany. Loud TV programs playing in various television sets are also a recurring theme and a source of frustration for Philip, whereas Alice seems to enjoy them more.
There are some things I'm not sure I like, such as the slightly excessive runtime or the frequent fades to black that make many scenes feel a tad rushed, but in the end I enjoyed the movie as a whole. Rüdiger Vogler does a good job as the quiet Philip and Yella Rottländer never comes across as unnatural or annoying in the role of Alice. Alienation, parenthood and traveling are themes that have wide appeal and whilst "the journey is more important than the destination" may not be a wildly original conclusion, it always makes a fitting overhanging theme for a road movie. In addition, Alice in the Cities features a strong thematic connection to Paris, Texas and is recommended viewing to fans of said movie and traveling films in general.
