Tempestade de Gelo

"Ice Storm" not only describes the weather in the Connecticut countryside but is also a metaphor for the pall which hangs over a pallid and dysfunctional middle-class suburban family of four in the 1970s. Sporting a stellar cast with Ang Lee at the helm, this well crafted, sensitive, artful production takes the audience into four lives outwardly living the "American Dream" while inwardly existing in a state of empty unfulfillment and quiet desperation. The tedious and laconic nature of the film may lose the less patient audience while those with a taste for psychodrama should enjoy it.

I am deeply touched. I can not believe it took me 7 years to get to see this movie. It goes straight into my top ten.

The movie is based on Rick Moody's 1994 novel about the life of two suburban families in New Canaan, Connecticut during the time of the Watergate scandal: A time of sexual liberation and of disintegration of existing social norms and of the nuclear family. The characters may stand as symbols of the kind of people that are created out of a society with decreasing social norms. They are ordinary people who live in material welfare, bored, unhappy, confused, scared of conflicts, and constantly seeking something else than they already have.

Instead of being examples to their children, the parents are constantly trying to run away from their own emotional confusion for instance by seeking casual sex and thereby hurting each other. In the meantime the children are left to their own upbringing, watching bad TV shows, emptying their parents' drinks, blowing up toys on the balcony, shoplifting, experimenting with sex and drugs. The communication between parents and children is terrible, or should I say non-existing. They all live in their separate worlds, all the time more disconnected, until a tragedy caused by a natural disaster finally calls them back to life and, hopefully, makes them look beyond themselves and see how valuable and fragile life is. May this provoke back the belief in what the family as a unit can do for each other if they stand together?

The movie is both uncomfortable and at the same time enormously satisfying to watch – perhaps because the theme is presented in such a human and recognizable manner. The dialogue is great and there are even very funny scenes at times. These people seem so real and so fragile, like you and me. It is as if we can see right through their souls and their pain.

The cast is brilliant (except for that irritating Katie Holmes with her cheap Hollywood teenage series look). I have never seen a movie plenty of child actors acted out as professionally and convincing as this one. Christina Ricci is the best and Elijah Wood is also excellent (much more enjoyable than in LOTR), making me wish they were young again so they could have more roles in movies like this.

The atmosphere caused by the weather gives a kind of somber mood stressed by the dimmed colors and the mystical music score.

'The Ice Storm' is an incredibly bleak and dark film set in the 70s about two connected families during the holiday break of Thanksgiving. The first family consists of Ben (Kevin Kline) and Elena (Joan Allen), and their two kids -- 16-year-old Paul (Tobey Maguire) just home from boarding school, and 14-year-old Wendy (Christina Ricci) a wannabe anti-war/anti-Nixon elitist who is coming to terms with her own sexuality. The second family consists of Janey (Sigourney Weaver) whom Ben is having an affair with, her husband Jim (Jamey Sheridan), and their two boys -- the neurotic intro-vert Mikey (Elijah Wood) and his younger shy pyro-maniac brother Sandy (AdamN Hann Byrd). The film takes place during Thanksgiving day and the day after in the lives of these people -- including Ben and Elena's marriage being put to the test at a swinger's party with Janey and Jim, Paul's love conquest in New York City with a girl from boarding school named Libbets (Katie Holmes), and Wendy's sexual misadventures with Mikey and Sandy both.

'The Ice Storm' is an incredibly powerful and relevant ensemble piece about the complexity of family and relationships both sexual and non-sexual. Ang Lee once again proves he is a director of great skill and exquisite understanding of human emotions, and James Schamus provides a harrowing and painfully realistic screenplay. Kevin Kline delivers yet another near-flawless dramatic performance, while Sigourney Weaver is great in her interesting yet limited role. The children of the ensemble cast (Maguire, Byrd, Wood, Ricci, Holmes, Krumholtz) are all excellent, especially Christina Ricci who owns her role. However, the real scene-stealer in my eyes is the marvelous Joan Allen who plays her role with such intensity and elegance that I'm shocked she didn't receive a Best Actress Oscar Nomination.

In conclusion, 'The Ice Storm' is a powerful little movie that's interesting yet not exciting. It isn't groundbreaking by any standards, but it's incredibly well-made. 'The Ice Storm' was totally ignored at the '98 Oscar Ceremony, but that comes to no enormous surprise. It was competing in the same year 'L.A. Confidential', 'Boogie Nights', 'Amistad', 'The Sweet Hereafter', 'As Good as It Gets' and the dreadfully overrated 'Titanic' were. A small little character study like 'The Ice Storm' didn't stand a chance. If you can appreciate a movie like this, I highly recommend this oldie I just got around to seeing. Grade: A-

Thanksgiving weekend in Connecticut in 1973, two families work through their problems. Talk about dysfunctional families! This one has two such clans, and every member of each family is assigned an issue (kleptomaniac, sex addict, social misfit, absentee parent, depression, etc.). It makes for a very contrived drama. The impressive cast manages to overcome some of the shortcomings of the script, but it all seems so heavy-handed. As a couple whose marriage has fizzled, Kline and Allen come off the best. The makeup department went a little overboard trying to evoke the 1970s look, with Weaver looking particularly odd as a woman who's cold as ice.

First I should say, this movie could have been about my town and my family. I grew up in Connecticut and was 11 years old when the ice storm hit. My family was probably the typical dysfunctional unit of the 70's – emotionally clueless, parents headed for divorce (though we didn't know that yet), so I should have been able to relate to this film.

The problem with the movie is there's no humor, no humanity. It's just one dysfunctional, sad, deviant event after another. It's like someone from another planet was assigned a homework exercise to depict dysfunctional families on Earth. I couldn't relate to the characters and there was no one to like.

I'll give it 4 stars for the nice cinematography, the all-star cast, the good period sets and clothes. Although Toby Maguire gives his usual staring-into-space, deer-in-headlights, stupid-half-smile, what-am-I-supposed-to-be-doing-again? performance, I thought the rest of the cast did their best with the material – i.e. it wasn't the actors' fault!