resireg-31415 First of all, this movie is based on a book written by Rick Moody, who was an raised in an upper middle class Connecticut suburb in the 70s. I watched the movie first and read the book after, and for me both are masterpieces.He (Rick Moody) wrote a fictional story, but we can see and feel that he is talking about the environment where he grew up and the the book depicts the hypocrisies and contradictions of society at the time, who was very traditional and conventional on the outside (men are breadwinners, women are attractive housewives, everybody celebrate thanksgiving, everybody aims to be part of the corporate world), but on the inside, the adults are insecure and irrational just like their children, despite their respectable looks and sophisticated language.The beauty of the film, is that the director Ang Lee invested a lot on the aesthetic factor ,casting perfect actors and making the audience nostalgic for a time when most of us were not even born. There are plenty of cultural references of topics that most generations today are not even aware of(like Richard Nixon, Poseidon Adventure, Jonathan Livingston Seagull).The movie was hardly watched because it was release together with Titanic, so bad timing contributed to the obscurity of " the ice storm"The story is very intense. Two prosperous families who are the typical role models for the American Dream are having a typical thanksgiving weekend. What all members have in common is that they are all horny, and are trying to have some sex (adultery for the adults, first experienced for the youth) and it appears that getting some of it is not making them any happier. They are normally miserable and frustrated despite their successes in bed, in their studies and professions.There is a very moving scene in the end when a wife gives some affection to her sobbing husband , and then we realize that this is the missing element in their lives. Despite their constant desire for more sex, they don't realize that they were actually were deprived of love.When I watch this movie, it always makes me feel like hugging the people I love.

grantss Thanksgiving, 1973. We meet two dysfunctional families living in New Canaan, Connecticut. The Hoods are Ben and Elena and their children Paul (16) and Wendy (14). The Carvers are Jim and Janey and their teenage sons Mikey and Sandy. Ben is having an affair with Janey. Paul spends most of his time at boarding school but is coming home for Thanksgiving. Wendy and Mikey are in a relationship, of sorts. Sandy is infatuated with Wendy. One night all their relationship and family issues reach a tipping point.Started very well. First half was great - quirkily funny with some great oddball family drama. Characters had depth and were engaging. Everything seemed set up for fantastic second half, complete with more quirky comedy and some intriguing family drama.But, alas, it was not to be.Second half is pretty dull, even silly, and ends in random anticlimactic fashion. After a largely comedy-driven first half, director Ang Lee gets all serious in the second half, turning the movie into a full-on drama. Laughs become few and far between. Moreover, the drama is dull, pointless and not at all profound. Very disappointing, especially considering how well it was set up.Can't complain about the cast though. Heaps of big names, some of which weren't that big at the time: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tobey Maquire, Christina Ricci (16/17 at the time) and Elijah Wood. We even have Allison Janney and Katie Holmes in minor roles. This was Katie Holmes' first role, in either film or TV.

Andrew Ray Years before he hit big with "Brokeback Mountain," Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee released what I consider to be an even better film, 1997's "The Ice Storm." Kevin Kline and Joan Allen play Ben and Elena Hood, a seemingly happily-married suburban couple in 1973 Connecticut. Tobey Maguire and the still teenage Christina Ricci play their children, Paul and Wendy. But alas, all is not as vanilla as it seems, for Ben is having an affair with a neighbor, Janey Carver, played by Sigourney Weaver, in her best (and most vulnerable) performance ever. Ironically, daughter Wendy is sexually experimenting with Janey's son Sandy.The Hoods and the Carvers both attend the same "key party," a form of swinging in which the women draw the men's car keys from a bowl, then sleep with the owner of the keys. Here, Janey's husband, Jim (Jamey Sheridan) realizes his wife is having an affair with their neighbor. He and Elena spend the night together too, then return to find their teenage children in bed with one another. So two families, one affair, and three liaisons. Yes, Kevin Kline stars, but this is not some fraternity-level comedy. This is a serious, heartbreaking dramatic representation of the ashes burned from the sexual revolution of the 1970s – all played against the backdrop of a New England ice storm brewing outside.Those of us too young to participate have a tendency to think of the sexual revolution as some kind of wild, ongoing swingers' party, in which partners were traded and swapped like baseball cards, and those unfortunate enough to be married would certainly play along without feeling any repercussions to the traditional family structure. This is obviously an inaccurate description, and Ang Lee brilliantly illuminates the anguish experienced by many families. I suppose the most distressful relationship of all is that of the sexually-catechizing teenagers. Studies have shown children mimic their parents, and if their parents are sleeping together, well then… The performances are all first-rate, especially Sigourney Weaver, who was nominated for a Supporting Actress Golden Globe award. And it's revealing to watch Christina Ricci at 17 years old, in her first "adult" role. Her Wendy character carries herself with the poise of her mother, yet with the guilelessness of a child. James Schamus' screenplay (a winner at the Cannes Film Festival that year) features some of the most candid and open dialogue I've ever witnessed. Lee smartly refrains from overdirecting – letting his star cast elucidate the material effectively. Kline and Weaver let us into the hearts and souls of their philandering characters, allowing us not so much to judge them, but to feel their pain, as it were. We not only bear witness to their struggles, but we develop a connection to their very souls.Unfortunately, "The Ice Storm" was simply lost in the shuffle of all the great motion pictures of 1997 – the box office champ and critical success "Titanic," Curtis Hanson's "L.A. Confidential," Paul Thomas Anderson's first classic "Boogie Nights," Matt Damon's and Ben Affleck's breakout film "Good Will Hunting," and Dustin Hoffman in "Wag The Dog." Plus Robert Duvall and Peter Fonda turned in the best performances of their long, successful careers with "The Apostle" and "Ulee's Gold," respectively. There simply wasn't room for "The Ice Storm" in the conversation, although it certainly deserves its place on the mantle of the many virtuoso films of 1997. This was one of the finest films of one of the best years ever for motion pictures.

SnoopyStyle It's Thanksgiving 1973 New Canaan, Connecticut. Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) is going home to his dysfunctional parents (Kevin Kline, Joan Allen) and promiscuous sister Wendy (Christina Ricci). Their best friends are the Carvers (Sigourney Weaver, Jamey Sheridan, Elijah Wood, Adam Hann-Byrd). The two families share more than simple friendship. Paul is in love with rich schoolmate Libbets Casey (Katie Holmes) but his roommate Francis Davenport (David Krumholtz) is moving in.The theme of ice and cold infuses the whole movie. It's a world of disconnected people and their secrets. The actors are all superb from the adults to all the kids. It does need the connective tissues to make this flow more. The disconnections from the characters just build and build until the literal ice storm.