After seeing 'the Ice Storm' several times I have decided it's one of my all-time favorites. When a film captivates me the way this one does, I have to love it even if the subject matter is disturbing. The characters are unsympathetic and even unlikable, but you just can't stop watching them get further entangled and deeper into trouble. The parents and the teenagers walk around in a numbed haze of 70's suburban boredom until a harsh reality wakes everyone from their slumber. Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, and Sigourney Weaver are convincing as 50's generation parents desperately trying to adjust to the sexual revolution of the 70's. Kevin Kline plays a middle-aged executive who goes temporarily insane with the free-love standards of the times. He truly loves his wife and kids but becomes recklessly involved with a neighbor's frigid wife, played by Sigourney Weaver. Joan Allen plays his repressed 'Donna Reed-ish' wife, who makes Thanksgiving dinner look lovely even though her life has become very ugly. Christina Ricci plays their sexually-curious daughter, who is way too interested in her boyfriend's little brother. Their goofy, nerdy son is played by Tobey Maguire, who ironically resembles a young Kevin Kline. The 1973-era nostalgia is great to watch for. I especially enjoyed the Jim Croce song "I Got a Name" which is skipping on an old vinyl-LP. The final scene leaves the viewer grasping for a resolution where there was never meant to be one. So what if it doesn't have an earth-shattering point to make, so what if the characters are miserable, so what if it doesn't have a happy ending...that's how real life is!
Review of The Ice Storm
