The Ice Storm

Eight stars. All of Ang Lee's movies are family dramas. That's just as true for Hulk as it is for The Ice Storm. And the thing that makes his movies worth watching is his ability to look honestly at all the strengths and foibles that make up how families interact. Many people, viewing the film today, will miss the importance of the time-frame. This is a period piece, made in the late 90s, but happening in the early 70s. That's essential for understanding why the adults act the way they do. These are people who got married in the late 1950s, and then had society turn itself on it's head while they weren't looking. So here they are with kids that they don't (CAN'T) understand, and feeling like they missed all the fun that people ten years younger than them were having. So they cheat. Bumblingly, like the Kevin Kline character. Or clinically, like the Sigourney Weaver character. Or only in their hearts, like the Joan Allen character. The smartest of their kids (the Cristina Ricci character) sees this, and sees the essential hypocrisy of their lives. Her brother (Maguire) is the one that's stuck in the Phantom Zone. He's just trying to get laid, and, in the process, manages to miss the catastrophe the rest of his family and their neighbors participate in. Props to Elijah Wood and that kid from Jumanji for their roles as Ricci's muses, and for providing the means to drag all those lost adults back to some sort of center. 27 November 2023.