The Other Side of the Mirror (2016) Directed by Zach Hamer




This seems like one of those cheap and fast made movies made to cash in on the success of another big, upcoming Hollywood-release, in this case Tim Burton's "Alice Through the Looking Glass". But no, I can't even say that about this movie, since it doesn't even feel like a movie at all. It's more like a school-project, made by a bunch of high school students who's assignment was to create a movie based on the Lewis Carroll books, featuring their interpretations of the 'Alice themes', stories and metaphors used in them. The result is a jumbled mess, that can't be enjoyed or seen as even a real movie.

Things never flow well within this movie. mainly because it doesn't seem to follow a strong or even clear main story-line. It's basically just the one scene of the other and too often things don't feel connected at all. At times it's even as if someone put all of the scenes in the wrong order, causing the movie to feel messy and like an incredibly unpleasant one to have to watch.

Visaully the movie still looks OK enough (well, most of the time anyway) but it never manages to catch your attention with anything else. There is no good music, not good enough sound, flat acting, terrible characters and overall the movie both looks and feels far too empty. Empty with its themes and story as well as with its sets and settings. It's obvious that they had basically zero budget to spend, so the movie at all times is set in the most basic of locations, such as a forest and inside empty looking houses. There aren't any background props really and no good costumes or makeup. It's also a reason why this movie never really feels like a period piece, even though it's supposed to be set in 1905. Most of the clothing worn looks far too modern and it's silly to see a bunch of old cars driving around (they probably spend all of the movie its budget on renting those by the way) on modern day looking roads.

It's unclear to me what this movie was even trying to do and achieve. It isn't really bringing anything interesting or original to the table, compared to other Alice movies that are already out there. But also when viewed on its own, it really isn't doing anything thought-provoking, or perhaps I should rather say; it really isn't working out as such. The movie makes it incredibly hard for the viewers to ever connect to the story or any of its characters and it's never being entertaining to watch either. It's a weird, annoying, boring, meaningless movie that makes you want to watch the Tim Burton Alice movies instead. And I strongly dislike those movies...

Don't waste your time on this one.

3/10

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