The Ice Storm

The Ice Storm (1997)

The movie opens (after a short introductory scene with a bit of naration by Maguire on the destructive nature of families) with the Hoods attending a dinner party hosted by their neighbors, Jim and Janey Carver (Jamey Sheridan and Sigourney Weaver). By this point in 1973, the sexual revolution has moved beyond the hippie and beatnick movements, and entered mainstream society. The adults are discussing key parties in which the husbands all put their keys in a jar, and at the end of the party the wives all pick keys out at random to determine who they're going home with.

The adults of the movie are unable to deal with their undefined social and sexual roles, which conflict strongly with their repressed protestant upbringings. The children are struggling with their own sexuality, and the confusing messages of society around them, as the sexual revolution, drug culture, and the national disillusionment of Watergate and Vietnam. Wendy and the Carvers' children Mikey and Sandy (Elijah Wood and Adam Hann-Byrn) fumble with sex in a couple of disturbing scenes. When the parents find out, they are totally unable to communicate with the kids, and ultimately almost ignore what's going on. This cold denial of feeling is mirrored by the weather as the emotional turmoil of these two families climaxes during the titular ice storm.

Ang Lee's touch can be felt throughout the film, especially in the patient pacing, powerful cinematography, and very effective musical score. This is not a Hollywood movie.

This movie was rated R by the MPAA for language, sex, and drug use. As stated previously, some of the sexual situations (although no nudity is involved) and drug use is carried out by children.

You're boring me. I have a husband. I don't have a need for another one.

Two families, close friends, linked together by an affair and the shared experiences of yuppie drug use and sexual 'liberation', at a party as the first storm of the season encases Connecticut in a layer of ice. "The Ice Storm" was released in 1997, directed by Ang Lee and based on a novel by Rick Moody.

This film is immensely perceptive. Little is conveyed easily; it never resorts to melodrama and the characters don't vocalize their feelings. The viewer is left to simply see and understand, with little assistance. Therein lies the power of The Ice Storm; its subtlety and nuance conveys something about the characters that they don't seem to know themselves. Each one is reaching for something unseen and uncomprehended; they are unaware of what they lack but their lives are defined by it.

It's 1973, and the sexual revolution has drifted to the upper class. Watergate has precipitated the familiar conflict between conservative parents and their liberal offspring; Christina Ricci offers this while saying grace:

Dear Lord, thank you for this Thanksgiving holiday. And for all the material possessions we have and enjoy. And for letting us white people kill all the Indians and steal their tribal lands. And stuff ourselves like pigs, even though children in Asia are being napalmed.

In their own way, each character is seeking something they lack. This is a volatile time and the sense of an impending change fills the picture. The characters rebel, each in their own way against the social order. Their missteps along the way are portrayed sympathetically yet starkly; little hope is shown until the end of the film. Multilayered, complex performances by all of the actors allow immensely difficult material to work perfectly. This film is actor-driven; it takes immense sensitivity for an audience to develop empathy for such desperate characters, but the film is sure-footed and its actors never slip.

One family is together again for Thanksgiving when a son arrives home from boarding school. The son, Tobey Maguire, is unable to talk to girls except about Dostoevsky, and retreats into a comic-book world that reflects his own family. His sister, Christina Ricci, is fourteen, and continuously acts out sexually with the two boys next door. Their father (Kevin Kline) is having an affair with the mother of the family next door, Sigourney Weaver. His wife, Joan Allen, demonstrates silent resentment, which Kline (willfully?) doesn't see.

Next door, Sigourney Weaver and Jamey Sheridan barely seem to function as a married couple. Their older son, Elijah Wood, is frightened of the "molecules" of stench that float through the air. His little brother, Adam Hann-Byrd, is in awe of Christina Ricci. He seems unable to resist her bizarre sexual urges. Their parents attend 'key parties' in which men and women are randomly matched together for sexual encounters.

Ice is more than an atmospheric phenomenon. It permeates this picture, surrounding the characters until it seems that no one can maintain intimacy, even if they're sleeping together. The ice is an elemental force, killing a character in the end, and its presence sweeps through the town and eventually changes the lives of all the other characters.

In the end, the ice offers redemption to the inhabitants of the town, its destructive force consuming old habits and, perhaps, restoring life to the two families. This is the only glimmer of hope seen in the picture; its end is perhaps not optimistic, but the ice storm has thawed and there is the possibility of renewal for its characters.

This film is dark and harsh, but at the same time moving and intelligent. It is ultimately satisfying, and even if it may seem to brood and to show a gloomy future for its characters, the viewer is left with the possibility of salvation for its characters, as flawed and unhappy as they may be. I shouldn't neglect to laud the director for the beauty of the film and the perfection of its pacing. The cinematography is excellent, as is the soundtrack; the physicality of the film harmonizes flawlessly with its theme. This is one of my favorite movies, and despite its harshness it is a pleasure to watch a movie so well-done.