Ice
Storm (The)
Genre: comedy drama
Director: Ang Lee
Release: 1997
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Rating: R
MBiS score: 8.3/10
‘I have a husband.
I don't have a need for another one.’
We
find ourselves in 1973 and the Hood family isn’t the most contented in New Canaan. Young Wendy (Christina Ricci) thinks about
boys and rails about Nixon, brother Paul (Tobey Maguire) has girls on his mind
but little luck with them, father Ben (Kevin Kline) struggles with mid-life crisis
and mother Elena (Joan Allen) feels deep down inside that happiness is passing
her by. With Sigourney Weaver (Janey Carver), Jamey Sheridan (her husband Jimmy),
Elijah Wood and Adam Hann-Byrd (Mikey and Sandy, the Carver sons).
THE
ICE STORM is a cold, cold family affair… and not only because of that pivotal weather
event late in the story. Its characters are twisted and broken like sleet-covered
branches, its humour bites like a winter squall in Minnesota… even though this is Connecticut. The plot,
both potent and deep, develops over a few days, one fateful Thanksgiving weekend.
Television is omnipresent and oppressive, relationships are tense, characters
have yet to discover that the freewheeling spirit of the 70s may lead them to a
dead end.
Sounds
depressing? Believe me, it’s not. Drama and comedy are finely balanced here,
largely due to the film’s faultless direction, screenwriting and acting. Helmer
Ang Lee keeps things moving along and does a great job capturing the mood of
the times. The script by James Schamus (based on a Rick Moody novel) spins its
web quietly but efficiently (the spiral of events in the third act is superbly engineered).
As for the cast, it exudes charisma and talent; at the risk of being unfair, I
was especially impressed by Kevin Kline (who delivers his wackier lines with
all the seriousness in the world) and Tobey Maguire (who reminded me of Robert De
Niro waxing ironic).
In
terms of weather, an ice storm is not something to be taken lightly; in the realm
of filmed entertainment, THE ICE STORM shouldn’t either. That’s why I strongly
recommend it to you. Whatever you decide, beware of those molecules, you hear!
MBiS
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