Alice in the Cities

Wim Wenders’ luminous black and white love letter to the road movie genre and a defining film in his career.

A German journalist (played by Wenders’ regular Rüdiger Vogler) is driving across the United States researching an article. When he shows up to his publisher empty‑handed, he is swiftly given his marching orders back to Germany. At the airport, while trying to book a return flight, he comes across nine‑year‑old Alice and her single mother. What starts as a chance encounter becomes an unexpected road‑movie odyssey after Alice is abandoned by her mother and unwillingly left in his care. With no idea where her mother has gone, the unlikely pair hit the road in search of Alice’s grandmother.

Curator’s note
Part of a loose trilogy of road movies that include The Wrong Move (1975) and Kings of the Road (1976), Alice in the Cities would become the movie that defined Wenders’ career. Encompassing all of his filmic obsessions – America, road movies and rock music (including original music from prog‑rock legends CAN) – Alice in the Cities differentiates itself by placing front and centre this precocious young girl. Played with incredible self‑possession by Yella Rottländer, it is one of the few times Wenders’ films wouldn’t hinge on a budding friendship between two men. Instead, we have a tender, surrogate father‑and‑daughter relationship that doesn’t fall into easy sentimentality. Shot on 16mm in luminous black and white by Wenders’ creative partner Robby Müller, Alice in the Cities is a rich and satisfying journey worth taking.