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Karen, Sweet Karen

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Description

Got a new moleskine for "quickies" and experiments.

Brooke Shields as Karen from the underrated 70s film Alice, Sweet Alice.

I'll probably have to follow-up with another sketch of Paula Sheppard, the titular Alice sometime (can't believe she was 19 then who passed for a 12-year-old!).

Thoughts on the film:

I always remembered seeing a VHS of this film during frequent trips to the video store (when such stores were a thing; shit, I feel old!). The back of the box, in particular, always resonated with me. However, I never bothered to ask my dad (I was little then) to rent it for me. It's amazing to rediscover it now. It really deserves to be a classic and I enjoy it more than Don't Look Now (1973, a visually pretty film that Alice was directly inspired by, especially the use of similar coats as a recurring motif to fool the viewer
—red coats in Don't Look for the protagonist's deceased daughter and his vision of the little person he believes to be his daughter and yellow in Alice's case, worn by Alice and her [SPOILER! murdered] sister Karen as well as the knife-wielder people believe to be Alice (and if you were to have seen Don't Look first, the reveal of Alice may be obvious as it's nearly the same, though the narrative of the latter still works).

Though not perfect, most of everything about this film is done right (writing, directing, acting, cinematography and music) and despite that it's technically packaged as a slasher (and was re-marketed as a Brooke Shields film after Pretty Baby, making it seem like she played the lead), it's somehow tamer than other films of its era like The Last House on the Left (1972) or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Finally, Alice will never leave your psyche and many questions remain unanswered. [SPOILER! Even though the identity of the knife-wielder is unmasked, did Alice, in truth murder Karen or was it "the other"? Alice may have been proven innocent in the accusation that she stabbed her aunt, though by the closing shot, she still comes across as being a very disturbed young girl not incapable of cruelty and many other earlier incidents in the story support this.] Anyhow, if you haven't seen it, go watch it. It's notably ideal in the its creep factor for lovers of horror and suspense.

Media:
German Faber-Castell pastel pencils, graphite, charcoal and some soft pastels
Time: Approx. a half hr.




Alice, Sweet Alice © 1976 Allied Artists
All rights reserved.

© 2017 J.D. Night Ghobhadi
Some rights reserved.
Image size
618x928px 269.83 KB
Make
NIKON CORPORATION
Model
NIKON D3100
Shutter Speed
10/8000 second
Aperture
F/5.3
Focal Length
40 mm
ISO Speed
400
Date Taken
Jul 14, 2017, 7:52:29 PM
© 2017 - 2024 JDNight
Comments21
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Julie-Joy's avatar
wow, nice work, nice shadowing!