“Alice” is the darkly comic story of Joel and Alice Holding, a brother and sister with a big problem on their hands. On a family vacation in Africa, Alice drinks a tiny bit of contaminated water and the parasite that lives there. After the family returns home, a Guinea worm emerges through the skin just below Alice’s belly button. Their parents, already overwhelmed by the tasks of parenthood, are completely undone by Alice’s repugnant care, and hand the job over to Joel. Over the oppressively hot summer, Joel and Alice are left to their own devices, and their task forces them into an awkward and disturbing intimacy. The stress on their relationship sets the kids on a collision course. “Alice” explores family dysfunction, the precarious bonds between siblings, and the trouble that can happen when parents don’t mind their children.
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