Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)


The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009) Trailer

I recently reading Dov Simens' From Reel to Deal and Syd Field's The Foundations of Screenwriting.

I watch this movie because it was introduced in a local newspaper. The story is about Alice being kidnapped by two men, one of which is her boyfriend, and how she can wittily escape.

For the first half of the movie, it all took place in a room where Alice was locked and tied on a bed. The way she escaped at first was mainly due to her boyfriend Danny's guilt. Alice need to do number two. Danny turned away on her request and Alice took advantage of the moment and grabbed the gun. Alice was in charge. Danny was so scared that he took off his mask and told her his identity. He said that after getting the $2 million ransom, he would getaway with her. She reluctantly agreed and went back to bed as if nothing happened while the other kinapper Vic was coming back.

Another time when Vic was gone, Alice seduced Danny to bed. She cleverly tied him to bed by the handcuffs. She called the police but she didn't have the key to unlock the door. Danny who is still naked yet locked up on the bed used his foot to suffocate Alice. (Lucky his leg is long enough!) Alice fainted and Danny was in charge.

Vic came back and soon found out what happened. Alice had told Vic that Danny would took all the money and getaway with her. Vic was so pissed because he and Danny were lovers at prison. (Such a shocking relationship! But the screenwriter has carefully ploted their relationship in earlier shots) Vic kept his shirt on until they went to collect the ransom.

In the woods, Danny found that there was no money in the hole. Vic said that the hole is not for the money, it's for Danny. Then he chased and shot Danny. Vic had control now.

Vic continued to finish his job by transporting the money to another car and burning the van they used to kidnap Alice. Then he tried to kill Alice to finish things off. Suddenly, Danny appeared and he shot Vic. Alice hopping that Danny would release her from the handcuffs but he refused to rescue her. He went away and took all the money. The is the Oh-My-God per Dov Simens.

Luckily, Danny used his last breath to pass the spare key to Alice. But he died while passing the key to her and the key dropped on the floor. Alice was so devastated. This is the Oh-Shit plot. The turning point is that she was able to grab the key on the floor with her toes. She unlocked herself and is free finally. She walked out of the abandoned building like a zombie.

The last Oh-My-God plot is that she found Danny was dead on the car. COD was the wound shot by Vic earlier the day. At last, Alice is the one who took all the money. What a surprising ending.

After watching the movie, I realised that there are minimal locations, namely, the room, the woods and the abandoned building. There are minimal actors, only Alice, Danny and Vic. The conflict in the story is mainly put through by dialogues. And the dialogue is good. I checked that this is the first feature film by the Director. Then I realized that this is the kind of first feature film that would be produced. The plot has to be simple, minimal locations, low budget, yet dialogues and conflicts are great.

I hope I can write such a great feature someday.