Re-encountering Close Encounters

[poliphilo]

I remember Close Encounters as being huge. Seeing it on DVD it turns out to be a surprisingly intimate film about the break-up of a marriage.

There are three early Spielberg films that come straight from the heart.
Close Encounters, E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Since then he's seemed unsure of himself.

Close Encounters is a New Age movie. It thinks that humanity is on the brink of transformation. I guess the New Age is over now. E.T. has given way to the invading Martians of War of the Worlds.

By the way, I don't want to see War of the Worlds. I don't want to watch Spielberg pissing on his younger self. Also it's got Tom Cruise in it.

Close Encounters can be read as a religious allegory. It's about a man who sacrifices everything for the Kingdom of Heaven.

So what happens next? Does Richard Dreyfuss learn the wisdom of the ages, or does he get the anal probe?

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Of course, the second best thing about that movie is that you don't know what happens next...

The best thing about it is that it has François Truffaut in it. I saw it knowing nothing about it - I agreed to baby-sit for a friend, and she proposed the deal that since her kids wanted to see this shiny new movie, she'd pay for us to do that. And it's loud and full of action, and I'm not sure what's going on, and suddenly there's François Truffaut .

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's good to see Truffaut. One of the nice things about Spielberg and his generation is how they were always ready to show respect to other, older film makers. I remember how Spielberg and Lucas acted as producers on some of Kurosawa's later films and how Coppola employed Michael Powell as an artistic advisor at Zoetrope...