In the ocean of new releases, overlapping film festivals and the general noise of omnipresent “content”, the feeling that one is in the presence of an instant classic has become immensely, frustratingly rare. But we get this very feeling with Isabela Tent’s documentary feature Alice On&Off [+leggi anche:
trailer
intervista: Isabela Tent
scheda film], a first film currently competing in the Romanian Competition at the 31st Astra Film Festival after winning three awards at this year’s Transilvania Film Festival (see the news). The story of an atypical family, the documentary was shot over a decade, focusing on Alice, a teenage mother with dreams of becoming a respected painter.

From the very beginning, we know that this will not be an observational documentary, as the director announces herself as a protagonist from the get-go. Alice On&Off began as a school documentary that Tent shot a decade ago focusing on Alice, who, at only 16, gives birth to a boy, Aristo, trying her hand at parenthood together with Dorian, the boy’s father, who is 35 years her senior. No matter the love Alice feels for Aristo, we soon discover the girl feels trapped in motherhood and will do everything in her power to escape.

Over the next decade, Tent is always there to record how things go and, at times, to interact with the protagonists from behind the camera. Aristo grows up, Alice’s hair styles change and Dorian grows older, so it is very easy for the audience to follow the evolution of this story, which is simultaneously endearing, funny and heart-breaking, as one might feel that a mother’s instinct is a given – but what if it is actually something that must be nurtured and practised? What if it is something that can be stifled by both hardships and dreams of a better life?

Fiction film reviews are more prone to giving spoilers to the audience, but spoilers are to the detriment of documentaries, too. Alice On&Off should be experienced with as little information as possible, which is already quite difficult in the age of social media, where festivals, sellers and distributors feel the obligation to flood the audience with trailers and featurettes, sometimes to the extent that there is almost nothing left of the story when the audience finally has the opportunity to sit in front of the screen. In the case of a Hollywood movie, spoilers can obliterate the story, but this is not the case for Alice On&Off, which somehow becomes proof of how life finds a way to move on, no matter the trauma or hardships.

There are many scenes that are hard-hitting in this story about transgenerational trauma and about how breaking its vicious circle is easier said than done, but Tent succeeds in finding the right tone and, more importantly, the right pace. The documentary respects its protagonists, and viewers do not feel as though they are intruders in their small world that the director revisits now and then, only to discover the same bitter conversations about money and the same Alice who repeatedly professes her love for Aristo, and yet only takes her dog with her when she moves abroad.

Perhaps the biggest strength of a good documentary is convincing its audience not to judge the protagonist, and Alice On&Off succeeds in doing just that, which is especially surprising as we live in a world where it is so easy to get hooked by the merciless court of public opinion. The documentary offers layers of context and justification, until all we feel for Alice is compassion and hope. And here, the documentary brings to mind another instant classic of Romanian cinema, Alexander Nanau’s observational Toto and His Sisters [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (2014), with which Tent’s work actually shares much of its generous backbone of hardship, addiction and hope.

Alice On&Off was produced by Romania’s Luna Film.